


Everything In The World Was Standing Still

by CaptainJZH



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Past Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), RMS Titanic, Slow burn i guess?, Titanic AU, character/relationship tags will make more sense later, major character death happens farther down the line, so that's just a warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-06-18 06:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 47,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15479709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH
Summary: It's 1912. A diverse cast of characters— A wealthy boy and his caretaker moving to America after the death of the former's mother, an unlucky drifter finally heading home after an extended stay in Europe, a young engineer getting her first big assignment, an Indian family travelling to America, two lovers from wildly different classes, a stoker just doing her job, an architect with a humble past, and a scarred young woman finally getting the confidence to go to sea again —are all sailing aboard the maiden voyage of the largest, grandest ship ever built: The RMS Titanic.OR: I finally get an excuse to combine my extensive knowledge of the Titanic with my intensive love for Steven Universe. Titanic AU!





	1. The Boat Train

_ Southampton, England. _

_ April 10th, 1912. _

 

Steven and Pearl sat on board the train heading down to the harbor, about a dozen steamer trunks accompanying them.

 

“Pearl?” the boy asked her.

 

Pearl looked up from her newspaper.

 

“Yes, Steven?”

 

“Do you know what Dad’s gonna be like?”

 

Pearl held back a sigh. Steven’s mother, Rose, had died only a few months before from a terrible bout of pneumonia, and one of her last wishes was for Steven to be taken back to America and have him be raised in the company of his father, Gregory.

 

“I’m sure he’s wonderful,” Pearl reassured Steven, “Though I only met him once before you were born.”

 

Pearl’s relationship with Steven’s mother was...complicated to say the least. Which was as much as she could say, considering the attitudes towards such things. But officially, she took the role of a nanny for Steven, watching over him while his mother ran her jewelry business and attended important charity dinners and so on. 

 

As a result, Steven had barely known his mother, and wasn’t hit that hard by her death, at least as far as Pearl could tell. The only difference it seemed to make to him was that it meant he was no longer going to spend his days in “drab and dreary” England.

 

“What’s Delaware like?”

 

Pearl thought for a moment.

 

“Well there are beaches, I know that...at least where your father lives.”

 

“Like Blackpool?”

 

“Yes, but a lot warmer, I imagine.”

 

Most of Rose’s possessions in England had to be sold off in order to pay off her debts, but luckily Steven’s massive inheritance was left alone, which they used a small portion of to pay for the voyage to New York. First class, of course, and on the largest, most luxurious ship ever built, too. 

 

Steven deserved only the best, in Pearl’s eyes.

 

“Whoa…” Steven said, looking out the window as they approached the pier, seeing the massive ship docked at Berth 44. Four towering, yellow funnels shot up into the air from the black and white superstructure, nestled between two tall masts. It stood out against the overcast sky that day as not only the largest object on the pier, but also the largest moving object in the world, a title it had taken from its sister ship.

 

The name “Titanic” was proudly emblazoned on the stern.


	2. Change of Plans

Connie almost lost her parents in the crowd. It was pretty understandable, considering how busy the Southampton docks were on departure day, but that explanation probably wouldn’t put her parents at ease.

 

“Connie! Connie, where are you?” her mother called out, finally spotting her, “Oh there you are. Your father and I were worried sick.”

 

“I was only lost for a minute, Mom.”

 

“Still, you shouldn’t have gotten lost in the first place.”

 

Priyanka turned to her husband.

 

“Do you have the tickets, Doug?”

 

“Of course, uh, they’re right here.”

  
Doug reached into his pocket, but found there was nothing.

 

“Oooor they’re right here!”

 

He reached into his other pocket, but still turned up nothing.

 

“Maybe they’re over here!”

 

He reached into his back pockets, his jacket pockets, his shirt pocket, all nothing. Priyanka held the bridge of her nose.

 

“Doug...did you check your inside jacket pocket?”

 

“Here they are!” he exclaimed, handing them to his wife.

 

Connie had stopped paying attention to her parents’ discussion and had instead focused her attention on the massive vessel they were about to board. It was amazing how such a huge ship was able to float and move through the water so effortlessly. And it would carry thousands of people across the Atlantic in only several days’ time, people from all walks of life.

 

Her family had lived in England for most of her life due to her father’s job (though she’d been born in India), but now they had transferred him to their Philadelphia offices. They could have probably paid for the trip themselves, but the company apparently went as far as to book them Second Class on the most luxurious ship ever built. It wasn’t First, but it was still going to be great. Well, at least that’s what they thought.

 

“ _Third Class?!_ ” Priyanka shouted after looking at the tickets, “What happened to Second Class?”

 

Doug nervously shrugged, attempting to explain the situation.

 

“Well, the firm’s been tight on money lately so…”

 

“You could have told us there was a change of plans.”

 

“Please, Pri, can we discuss this when we’re on board?” Doug insisted, “Besides, Third Class on the Titanic is like Second or even First on any other ship! At least, uh, that’s what I heard, heh.”

 

“Fine. But I hope we at least have a decent cabin. And that the food is good for Connie.”

 

As the Maheswarans made their way to the boarding ramp, Connie couldn’t help but look up at the first class gantry, where she noticed a boy about her age about to enter the ship, trailing behind a pale young woman guiding him aboard.

 

He looked down at her as well, and waved.

 

In return, she did the only thing she could do, and waved back.


	3. Adventures in Ticket Fraud

Amethyst didn’t get her ticket through strictly “legal” means.

 

Okay, she stole it. But it was their fault for leaving it on the bar like that! It was like they wanted someone to take it!

 

She’d been hoping for five years to find a way back home to the States, and wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She saw an opportunity, and she took it. It was how she rolled.

 

All she had with her was the one bag over her shoulder, in which contained everything she owned. It wasn’t much— just her clothes, plus some mementos from when she was back in America with her sisters —but it was all hers.

 

Distracted by the sheer size of the Titanic, she suddenly found herself colliding with someone on the dockside, causing whatever they were carrying to fall from their arms.

 

“Hey buster,” Amethyst began, picking herself up off the ground, “Watch where...you’re...going…” 

 

She looked up at the person she had just ran into. The woman, dressed in denim overalls and wearing a pair of spectacles, had been carrying a bunch of paper bundles with her, which looked to be diagrams of some sort, and had worriedly begun picking them up. She was cute, Amethyst admitted to herself.

 

“Lemme help you with that,” Amethyst said, reaching down to the scattered blueprints on the ground.

 

“No, no, I am perfectly capable of picking up my own items,” the woman said, extending her hand to Amethyst, “Peri, Junior Assistant Sixth Engineer.”

 

“Amethyst, Good-For-Nothing-Piece-of-Crap,” she replied, extending hers, “Or at least that’s what my last landlord called me.”

 

The two gave a quick handshake (which Peri was fairly disgusted with considering the nature of Amethyst’s hands) and then parted.

 

“Well nice to meetcha Peri, but I gotta ship to catch.”

 

“So do I!” Peri called out, even though Amethyst was already running towards the third class boarding ramp, “What do you think I’m Junior Assistant Sixth Engineer  _ of _ ?!”

 

\---

 

“Your name is Svenja?” the official asked at the entrance ramp, looking at the name on the ticket and back at the short young woman in front of him.

 

“Yeah, and what’s it to you?” Amethyst replied, putting on a phony Russian accent.

 

“Oh no. No problem here,” the official said timidly, “Next please!”

 

Amethyst excitedly ran up the ramp, finally home-free, it seemed. She hopped through the gangway door, cheering at the top of her lungs.

 

“Ah ha! Guess who’s heading home?!” she shouted to another embarking passenger (who likely didn’t understand a word she said), “This girl! Woo!”

 

As Amethyst ran down the corridor and turned the corner, she continued yelping with joy, nearly knocking down everyone in her path. On the third class stairway, she slid down the railing almost straight to the bottom.

 

“G-220… G-220… Ah here we go!”

 

Her cabin’s only other occupants were a family of three– what looked to be a mildly-annoyed wife, a nervous-but-good-natured husband, and their unassuming daughter, who was in the middle of grabbing a book from her luggage.

 

“Howdy everyone! The name’s Amethyst,” she introduced herself, “Though if anyone official-lookin’ asks, I’m Svenja and I’m leaving Mother Russia for the New Country. Or somethin’ like that.”

 

“Uh, I’m Connie,” the small girl in the family said as Amethyst threw her bag on the top bunk, “And, uh, that’s where I was gonna sleep.”

 

“ _ Not anymore! _ ” Amethyst said with a snort.


	4. Rendezvous

It was hard for Ruby to get out of the boiler rooms. Not just because it was only minutes before sailing time, but also because she knew she had no good excuse to give if anyone questioned why she wasn’t down there, in the sooty, sweaty underbelly of the ship where she apparently belonged.

 

Her real reason was more scandalous than any of her fellow trimmers could (probably) imagine.

 

Careful to avoid tracking soot on the floor, she quietly made her way forward down Scotland Road, discreetly entering First Class on E-Deck and walking down the stairs to the Turkish Bath.

 

Since the voyage had not even begun, the stewards were far too busy to keep people out, so Ruby was able to slip in for a brief rendezvous.

 

“Is that you, my love?” a voice whispered from one of the Shampooing Rooms. She recognized it anywhere.

 

“I don’t know, is that you?” Ruby coyly replied before being pulled through the curtains and into a kiss.

 

“The kiss certainly seems familiar,” Sapphire, a short woman in a blue dress, remarked, ignoring the ash covering her lover’s face.

 

They had met a few years earlier, on the Baltic, and from there their relationship blossomed, even though it was only pursued through secret meetings in hotel rooms and places like these. Sapphire was a rich socialite from New York, and got to travel back and forth frequently across the Atlantic. Since their meeting, she made sure to only travel on ships that Ruby was stationed on.

 

“I wish we didn’t have to meet like this,” Ruby said between kisses.

 

“So do I,” Sapphire replied, “But it’s still exciting.”

 

“You’re exciting,” Ruby smirked.

 

“Why thank you,” Sapphire remarked, “Now Ruby, I believe you have a ship to run.”

 

“Hey, I don’t run the ship-”

 

“Could have fooled me,” Sapphire said as she kissed Ruby on the cheek, “Now go. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

 

“Love you, Sapphy.”

 

“Love you too.”

 

After Ruby had left, Sapphire looked down at her dress, now covered in soot from Ruby’s touch. She smiled. She always did leave her with something to remember her by.


	5. All Ashore Who Are Going To Shore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to everyone who's been enjoying this fic thus far, including my good fic-writing friends E350tb and CoreyWW, who've been very supportive of this AU and my very accuracy-oriented rivet-counter mindset ("why yes I shall stay up to 3am looking at deckplans there's no problem with that!")

Lapis Lazuli hated boats.

 

She hated water.

 

So, why, she repeatedly asked herself, was she boarding a ship that was going to take her across the second-largest ocean in the world?

 

Well for one thing, it’s not like there was any other way back to America. She’d been on this cursed isle for a little over ten years, and finally,  _ finally  _ she thought she could actually make the trip. 

 

Oh, money had never been an issue– she could have sailed all over the world if she wanted to, plus her ticket on this ship was first class after all –she just couldn’t stand the sea.

 

But as she stepped onto the RMS Titanic, she felt a strange calm flow over her, as if the ship wasn’t just some hunk of metal floating in the water, but rather a firm rock, steady and secure even in the largest typhoon.

 

“May I take your bags, Miss?” a bellboy asked, snapping her back into reality.

 

“Oh, oh yes, yes of course. It’s, uh, C-73. I think,” she said, handing the boy her baggage.

 

“Right away, Miss,” the boy responded, grabbing Miss Lazuli’s bags and taking it down to her cabin.

 

The first class entrance led straight into the B-Deck landing of the Forward Grand Staircase, which even there was a sight to behold. The ornate wooden moldings on the railings, the crystal light fixtures, the painting hung between the two sets of descending stairs, and so on.

 

She decided to venture up to the A-Deck landing, where she was blown away once more by the sight of the massive glass dome. A small boy running around the space seemed to agree.

 

“Pearl! Pearl, come look! It’s  _ awesome _ in here!”

 

“Steven, don’t run off like that!” Pearl scolded, running after him, “It’s a big ship. I don’t want to lose track of you.”

 

“You won’t lose me. I have a very detectable scent,” Steven replied with a chuckle.

 

Pearl couldn’t stay upset with Steven for long, and joined him in admiring the interior design.

 

“It is quite lovely, I’ll grant it that. The British really outdid themselves with this one.”

 

Lapis noticed a large amount of people gathering on the A-Deck promenade just outside, many of them waving down at the people below.

 

“C’mon Pearl,” Steven began, grabbing Pearl’s hand and leading her towards the door, “We gotta go wave goodbye!”

 

“But Steven, who are we saying goodbye to?”

 

“I dunno! The King & Queen?”

 

Lapis chuckled at that from afar. She figured she might as well go join them. She didn’t have anyone to say goodbye to either, but she supposed if it was good enough for a boy like Steven, it would be good enough for her.

 

\---

 

“Alright boys, let’s get this tub underway!” Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett ordered as he walked through Boiler Room #6, the overhead lights illuminating the workers amidst the towering steel boilers.

 

Jasper clutched her shovel and tossed several pounds of coal into the furnace. She loved her job. It was simple and labor-intensive, but she loved it. She continued the repetitive motion again and again– shovel coal, throw it in the fire, shovel coal, throw it in the fire, and so on, revelling in the sweaty heat that filled the room.

 

She looked over her shoulder and saw a familiar face pushing a wheelbarrow of coal to her side.

 

“Hey! Ruby, isn’t it?” Jasper inquired as she grabbed the coal and shovelled it into the fire.

 

“Yeah!” Ruby said as she pushed the now-empty wheelbarrow back to the coal bunker, breaking up the coal and filling it up once more, “How’d you know?”

 

“You were on the Republic, weren’t ya?” Jasper continued, keeping her focus on her work but still enjoying the conversation, “I’d remember a little squirt like you!”

 

“Oh yeah!” Ruby remembered as she broke up the larger coal chunks into smaller bits for the stokers to shovel, “That was, wow, eight years ago, huh?”

 

“Time flies!”

 

“Okay lads,” Barrett said as he walked past, “You ain’t getting paid to chit-chat.”

 

Jasper and Ruby just shrugged and went on with their work.

 

\---

 

“Ay, McReynolds,” Chief Engineer Bell said as he looked at the time, “Where’s that assistant of yours? Peri something, wasn’t it?”

 

McReynolds, the Junior Sixth Engineer, shrugged, but before the Belfast-native could respond, he heard the sound someone clamoring down the entranceway and across the catwalk.

 

“Sorry sir,” Peri said as she climbed down to the Starting Platform, “Got, erm...lost on my way in.”

 

“Alright, alright,” her superior said, “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

 

A small  _ ding _ went off, and Bell turned to the Engine Telegraph indicator. The arrow was pointed at “ _ Standby Main Engines _ .”

 

“Okay boys,” he called out, “Time to go to work!”

 

Peri ran to record the order in the Movement Book, and only a few moments later, the telegraph went off again, now pointing to  _ “Ahead Slow.” _ Recording their orders yet again, she looked on in amazement as steam entered the Reciprocating Engines’ pressure cylinders, pushing down on their pistons and slowly rotating the port and starboard propeller shafts. The Titanic was a tremendous feat of engineering, she was proud to be a part of it.

 

She just hoped nothing would go wrong on her watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those playing along at home, C-73 was the protagonist's cabin in the game Titanic: Adventure Out of Time. (Also, from a previous chapter, the name on Amethyst's ticket, Svenja, is the female version of Sven, whom Jack won his ticket from in the 1997 movie)


	6. The New York Incident

As the Titanic pulled away from the dock, Steven and Pearl stood at the farthest point forward of the A-Deck Promenade, waving at the crowd below.

 

“So long England!” Steven shouted.

 

Pearl, playing along, called out, “Thank you Britain for your wonderful architecture! I shall miss it so dearly!”

 

Lapis wasn’t too far away, as she found herself somewhat drawn to the boy’s enthusiasm. It almost made her want to start waving too, even though she had no one to say goodbye to. Still, the fact that she was even on board made a small smile appear on her face. 

 

Meanwhile, Amethyst had gone up to the Poop Deck (a term that amused her to no end) to engage in the waving goodbye. She admitted that she would miss this part of the world, for whatever its faults. On the plus side, at least now she could brag to the family that she knew some French (only curse words, but that’d probably impress them even more).

 

“ Auf Wiedersehen, du Scheißesser !” Amethyst shouted (“Man, that week in Germany was  _ awesome _ ,” she thought).

 

She looked out on the horizon and saw that they were passing by two smaller ships, the RMS Oceanic, and the SS New York. She didn’t pay them any mind, however, until she suddenly heard several loud, air-shattering noises, as if a revolver had gone off.

 

In her cabin, Sapphire could hear the noises, and immediately went to look out the window. At first she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but then realization dawned on her that the latter ship was now steadily being drawn towards them.

 

“It’s the New York! She’s broken free of her moorings!” someone shouted up on the Boat Deck.

 

Lapis’ eyes widened in fear as she slowly stepped back from the railing, her hands starting to shake.

 

_ “This is what I get _ ,” Lapis thought,  _ “This is what I get for stepping foot on a ship again.” _

 

Down in the engine room, a small  _ ding _ was heard. Peri swiftly turned her head and saw that the arrow on the Engine Telegraph indicator now pointed to “ _ STOP _ .”

 

“Stop engines!” she and her superior both shouted at once. He gave her a brief look, to which she gave a quick shrug of embarrassment before rushing back to her job.

 

As the New York continued floating towards the Olympic-class liner, two tugboats grabbed hold of the smaller ship with their ropes, successfully pulling it out of the way of the Titanic and towards another berth.

 

“Heh, that could have been a  _ disaster, _ ” Steven remarked, turning to Pearl, who had been covering her eyes the entire time.

 

“Pearl, it’s alright,” he told her, “The ship didn’t hit us.”

 

“Wha? Oh!” Pearl exclaimed, uncovering her eyes, “Uh, what ship? I was just...checking to see how clean my hands were!”

 

“Sure thing, Pearl,” Steven chuckled, moving his attention back to the SS New York, which had now been resecured up ahead.

 

Titanic then got back underway, the tugboats guiding the ship out of the Southampton harbor and into the English Channel. Their next stop would be at Cherbourg, France, where they would pick up more passengers bound west.

 

Lapis decided immediately that she had to disembark there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always kinda wished the SS New York incident would get included in a Titanic adaptation, which tend to always cut ahead just after the ship clears Berth 44, so this was a bit of a historical indulgence on my part getting it in here.
> 
> Special thanks to Encyclopedia Titanica's very good article on the near-collision, since there's very little information out there about it: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/the-new-york-incident.html (they also have a wealth of information in general, which has been a big help— deck plans, for one)


	7. First Rate Food For Third Class Passengers

“You gonna finish that rice soup?” Amethyst asked as she finished her helping of roast beef. She was having dinner with the Maheswarans in the Third Class Dining Saloon, and found herself hungrier than ever. Well, that’s not to say she wasn’t  _ always _ hungry– it kinda came with being a drifter –but now that she was eating actual quality food, she simply couldn’t get enough of it.

 

“Uh, no, you can have it,” Connie said, passing Amethyst her bowl. She preferred the corn and potatoes anyway.

 

The White Star Line had learned that, if you treat the lower classes right, word of mouth would spread in their favor, and worked to make Third Class on their ship above average. And while Connie had never travelled Third on any other ships, she could admit it was quite nice. It was clean, of course (with the usual assortment of rats, but no one paid that much mind), the dining saloon, while rather plain, was still decorated with paintings of other White Star ships, and the tables were all covered in fresh linen tablecloths. Not to mention the extreme helpfulness of the stewards, with the menus even telling passengers that if they had any complaints with the food or the service, they could freely speak to them and whatever problem they had would be dealt with forthwith. Connie and her parents never had the luxury of being waited on hand and foot like this, and she imagined none of her fellow passengers had either.

 

“So, Amethyst,” Doug began, attempting to start conversation, “Where’re you from?”

 

“Owin’sville,” she said, shoving a spoonful of soup into her mouth.

 

Priyanka raised her eyebrow (though not because she hadn’t the faintest idea where that was).

 

“What were you doing in England, then?” she asked.

 

“Eh, I got sick of the family a few years back, so I got on a train east. Drifted around there for a while, ended up in Boston. Saw a ship in the harbor headed for Europe, got on.”

 

“Without a ticket?” Connie asked, grabbing some bread.

 

“You know, for some reason they never checked what was in that crate...”

 

Connie found herself restraining a chuckle at that.

 

“So you stowed away?” Doug continued.

 

“Darn tootin’ I did,” Amethyst smirked, “Worst week of my life, I’ll tell ya. Though that week I spent in Spain is a close contender…  _ Anyway,  _ there I was, no money, no nothing, stuck on the wrong side of the ocean. And that was, like, five years ago! And now I’m going home! Aw man, I’m gonna have so many stories to tell ‘em. Jay’s probably gonna be jealous, heh.”

 

Connie found Amethyst’s enthusiasm contagious, feeling almost envious of her ability to just... get on a ship and go to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what.

 

“How did you get on  _ this _ ship, though?” Priyanka asked, a look of vague disapproval starting to appear on her face.

 

“Ah, now that’s the best part! Some  _ chienne  _ left ‘er ticket on the bar, and I just swooped in and ran off! And she’s probably still looking for it!” Amethyst exclaimed, laughter filling her lungs.

 

Connie and Doug started laughing as well, much to the chagrin of Priyanka, who just sighed and continued on with her meal.

 

It was good food, she had to admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should definitely give thanks to the crew of Titanic: Honor and Glory for their remarkable recreations of the ship, most notably for this chapter, the Third Class Dining Saloon: http://www.titanichg.com/gallery/
> 
> Also thanks to realfakedoors for their feedback in addition to those already mentioned :)
> 
> For those playing at home, Amethyst is from Kentucky, a reference to canon, where that seemed to be the location of the Prime Kindergarten. "Owingsville" is a real town, and is where my uncle used to have a farm back in the day.


	8. Sunset Musings

Ruby walked out onto the Forward Well Deck, taking in the salty, ocean air. Well, more like the channel air, she mused to herself, fumbling around in her pocket for a cigarette.

 

“Need a light?” she heard a gravelly voice ask as she pulled one out.

 

She turned and saw Jasper, also stepping out onto the deck, her face almost unrecognizable outside of the dimly-lit boiler room.

 

“Uh, yeah,” Ruby replied, “Want one, too?”

 

“I thought you’d never ask,” Jasper chuckled, taking one out of the pack for herself.

 

After their respective cigs had been lit, the pair leaned against the bulwark, looking to the west. It was almost sunset now.

 

“Nice night, ain’t it?” Ruby remarked.

 

“Eh, I never got the big deal about sunsets,” Jasper chuckled, “But yeah, it is nice. I think we’re nearing France now.”

 

“Ever been to France?”

 

“No.”

 

Ruby was taken aback— though certainly not surprised —by the bluntness of her response.

 

“Say, do you remember that head stoker we had on the Republic?” Ruby asked.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“He was an ass, wasn’t he?”

 

Jasper paused for a moment before letting herself smile.

 

“Yeah, he was.”

 

“Remember how he’d keep telling us to ‘ _ keep our workstations clean _ ’?”

 

“Yeah!” Jasper remarked, “It’s a bloody boiler room! Like, what do you expect?”

 

“His true calling was a housekeeper.”

 

“Yeah… Didn’t he die?”

 

“He did?”

 

“I dunno, I heard the Republic got hit back in ‘09 on a Gibraltar run. Sunk.”

 

“Oh,” Ruby commented in surprise, “Well that stinks.”

 

After a few minutes of just watching the sunset, Jasper noticed that Ruby was looking over her shoulder, towards the other side of the ship. She followed her gaze and saw a woman in a blue dress standing on the edge of the A-Deck Promenade. Jasper could have swore the woman winked at Ruby, but shook it off.

 

On the upper deck, Sapphire would have loved to look at Ruby all day, but them locking eyes for too long would no doubt be seen as suspicious. Still, the view was magnificent regardless. To starboard, there was the sunset lighting up the clouds in a terrific display of oranges and purples, and to port, she could see Fort de l’Ouest passing by as the ship entered Cherbourg’s outer harbor.

 

Sapphire wished she could embrace her Ruby again, but she figured that could wait for another day in the voyage. She found herself looking back down at Ruby, who was turned back towards the horizon.

 

She smiled. At least she could look from afar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Partially inspired by a painting by the amazing Ken Marschall: http://www.kenmarschall.com/images/dawn_T2007_KM.jpg 
> 
> Also, the Republic was indeed a real White Star ship that sunk in 1909, but thankfully only six people died out of 1,500+ on board. There's even a rumor that there's a gold treasure in the wreck!
> 
> Oh, and this is our first chapter with a title! All the previous ones have been named for reader convenience.


	9. Meals Fit For Kings and Queens

Steven was jumping on his bed. 

 

Not for any particular reason— the bed in his room on Titanic was hardly different from his bed back in England —other than that he was simply happy and felt like jumping. He had lived in Great Britain practically all his life and, aside from a couple trips to Ireland when he was young, had never left the isle. He’d never even seen mainland Europe before! So when he saw through the window that they were in sight of France, he not only jumped in excitement, but he also ran to the other room to tell Pearl about said excitement.

 

“Pearl! Peeeearl!” he called out as he entered Pearl’s cabin, immediately adjacent to his own.

 

“I’m right here, Steven,” she replied.

 

“Look! Look, it’s France!”

 

He pointed out the window at the Cherbourg skyline, lit up in the dusk twilight. Pearl smiled at the sight. She remembered when she and Rose went to Paris before he was born (How long had it been—  _ Wow, 20 years ago? _ ) When Steven got older he’d have to go for a visit or two, she mused. The countryside alone was wonderful.

 

Before she could comment, they heard the dinner horn sound.

 

“Must they announce mealtime like it’s something out of a cavalry charge?” Pearl remarked, “Come, Steven, it’s time for dinner.”

 

“Ooh, what do you think they’ll have for dessert?” Steven asked as they both walked out into the hall.

 

“We can ask the stewards once we’re seated.”

 

\---

 

As Pearl and Steven made their way down the Grand Staircase, they could hear the ship’s orchestra playing a light waltz of some sort. She quickly turned her attention to the Titanic’s Reception Room as she and Steven stepped down onto D-Deck. It truly was amazing. The wicker furniture, the exquisite painting hung just in front of the stairs, the candelabra at the foot of said stairs, not to mention the indoor plants scattered about the space. And this wasn’t even the dining room– this was merely the  _ entrance lobby  _ to the dining room!

 

Inside the First Class Dining Saloon, Pearl and Steven were escorted to their table, located near the center of the room, but a little over to the port side. From there, Steven could see the many people he knew were famous and influential, but for the most part could hardly recognize for the life of him. 

 

There was an old couple sitting by the window (the Strauses), a family consisting of a mother, a father, and their adult son (the Wideners), a man with a white beard reading a book by himself (journalist W.T. Stead), a man with a mustache on the starboard side (Colonel Gracie), and what appeared to be a military officer in dress uniform (Major Archibald Butt, a name which would have probably garnered a snicker from Steven if he knew it), just to name a few. He did recognize the Countess of Rothes, as he remembered her attending one of his mother’s grand parties once at their old estate. He even recalled Pearl being particularly enamoured by her, though it seemed they were hardly aware of each other this voyage.

 

The room was  _ massive _ . It stretched from one side of the ship to the other, and took up a sizable portion of the mid-section, too, making it even longer than it was wide. The chairs had green leather backing, and were fairly comfortable to boot. Steven and Pearl’s table could seat two other people besides them, and shortly after sitting down they were greeted by a short woman in a blue dress.

 

“Oh, hello,” she said, “I’m Sapphire.”

 

“Hi, I’m Steven!” Steven said, standing up on his chair and leaning on the table to shake Sapphire’s hand.

 

“Steven, no standing on the chairs at dinner,” Pearl lightly scolded before reaching out her hand as well, “My name is Pearl. I’m Steven’s caregiver.”

 

“Pleased to meet you,” Sapphire said, sitting down across from Pearl, “So, is this your first time at sea?”

 

“Yup!” Steven exclaimed, “First time out of England, too!”

 

“Heh,” Sapphire remarked, “How do you like the ship, then?”

 

“Aw man, it’s great!”

 

“Inside voice, Steven,” Pearl reminded him.

 

“Sorry. Anyway, it’s just so big! I’ve only been to a few rooms so far. I wish I could check out the whole thing.”

 

“I was on the Mauretania a few times,” Sapphire said as they were served their first course, “It was magnificent of course, though not as big as this. I hoped to go on the Olympic last year, but my schedule would not permit it.”

 

“I believe Rose got to see the Olympic launched in Ireland a couple years back,” Pearl commented, “before she, uh… Anyway, she thought it was lovely.”

 

“Rose?” Sapphire inquired.

 

“Oh, Steven’s mother.”

 

Sapphire put two and two together and decided not to probe any further. The subject soon changed to the latest European fashions, which Steven admittedly had a bit of an interest in, though the mention of his mother made him quiet down and simply eat his food while Pearl and Sapphire talked.

 

The roast duckling was quite good, though he felt a little bit bad for the ducks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What, you thought Steven *wouldn't* have hidden Mommy Issues in this universe? (Though certainly less severe)


	10. Nomadic

After dinner, the passengers began to gather in the Reception Room as the band continued to play, as a sort-of After Dinner party. Normally, Steven would want to go back to the room in a situation like this, but the SS Nomadic had just begun ferrying First Class passengers to the D-Deck entrance, which was right next to the Reception Room, and both he and Pearl wanted to watch.

 

The passengers who boarded there included John Jacob and Madeleine Astor, John B. Thayer and family, Benjamin Guggenheim (plus his mistress), Sir and Lady Duff Gordon, and Margaret “Maggie” Brown, among others.

 

Over at the D-Deck elevators, Lapis was attempting to hide the anxious feeling welling up inside of her, as she quickly tried to get off the ship.

 

“Are you sure you don’t need any help, Ma’am?” the lift attendant asked.

 

“Oh no, I can manage!” Lapis insisted as she carried her bags out of the elevator. They subsequently slipped out of her hands, spilling her belongings all over the floor.

 

Steven wanted to run over and help, but Pearl had insisted that he not talk to strangers.

 

“Hey look, Pearl, it’s the Countess of Rothes!” Steven pointed out, hoping it would distract her enough for him to slip away.

 

“Oh my stars and garters,” Pearl remarked as she made her way to the other side of the room, where the Countess was sitting, and proceeded to strike up a conversation.

 

“Like clockwork…” Steven muttered.

 

“Don’t worry, Ma’am,” a steward was trying to assure Lapis, “We’ll clean it up.”

 

“I am perfectly capable!”

 

“Apologies, Ma’am,” the steward said, backing off, “Sincere apologies.”

 

One other man, Benjamin Guggenheim, had started to waltz his way over to help the young woman, until she shot him a look, making him back off as well.

 

“Can I help?” Steven asked her.

 

Lapis looked up, and upon seeing the boy’s innocent smile, couldn’t bring herself to shoo him away, so she reluctantly agreed.

 

“Sure... yes, thank you,” she said, sitting herself down on the nearby couch as she continued to get her things together.

 

On the floor, Steven found Lapis’ ticket, which was for Southampton to  _ New York _ , curiously enough, and not Cherbourg as one would imagine to be the case.

 

“Here,” Steven said, handing her the slip of paper as he closed her last bag.

 

“Thank you...um?”

 

“Steven,” he replied, sitting down next to her.

 

“Lapis. Lapis Lazuli,” she said in return.

 

“That’s a funny name.”

 

Lapis laughed a little.

 

“Hasn’t anyone told you not to make fun of people’s names?”

 

“Oh no, there’s nothing wrong with a funny name. My dad’s last name is Universe, after all.”

 

“You’re right,” Lapis sighed, “That is a funny name.”

 

Lapis was about to give Steven another thanks and wish him farewell, but then he surprised her with a question.

 

“Why are you leaving here at Cherbourg if your ticket is for New York?”

 

Lapis opened her mouth to say something in response, to dodge the question altogether, but frankly she was too taken aback by the sudden inquiry to say anything.

 

“Well, I- Uh… I…” she sputtered before finding cohesion again, “Isn’t your mother looking for you somewhere?”

 

Steven, after a moment of almost-stunned silence, just sighed and looked down, clutching the top of his dress shirt.

 

“...I’m sorry, did I say something to offend you?” Lapis asked, now concerned.

 

“Oh?” Steven said, snapping back to reality, “Oh no, no, not at all. Mom’s just...no longer with us, I guess you could say.”

 

“Oh, uh, I’m terribly sorry then,” Lapis said, her attention now drifting away from the Nomadic currently being boarded.

 

“Thanks. I didn’t really know her that well, so it’s fine, I guess.”

 

Steven was silent again for a few moments, before lighting up again.

 

“ _ Anyway _ , Pearl’s the one who takes care of me for the most part, and she’s busy talking to the Countess right now,” Steven said, gesturing to Pearl over in the Reception Room, talking the ear off the Countess of Rothes (who was still maintaining a polite smile, despite subtly pleading looks to Maggie Brown and other passengers to get her out of the conversation), “So we can talk just fine!”

 

Lapis looked at the time on the clock above her. The Nomadic wouldn’t depart for another short while, so she sighed and decided to answer Steven’s question.

 

“Well…” she began, holding her right arm, “I suppose I’m getting off here because I don’t want to be on this ship anymore.”

 

“Why not? It’s awesome!”

 

“...I just don’t like sailing. Or England.”

 

“Well that’s too bad, I guess. But what will you do in France?”

 

Lapis blinked.

 

“I... hadn’t thought of that.”

 

She didn’t speak a word of French, nor was she particularly interested in visiting the country at all. She was just getting off here because it was the first place she could. She didn’t even have her money exchanged into Francs.

 

“I guess I’d... just do what I did in England. Just get a hotel room and... sit in it. And get my meals delivered… and sleep in... and sit in it some more... for over ten years...”

 

“That’s a pretty silly way to live,” Steven remarked.

 

“If only I hadn’t gotten on that accursed ferry…” Lapis muttered.

 

“What’s that?”

 

“I was only supposed to be here for a few weeks! A simple vacation! I heard ‘Ooh Guernsey's nice this time of year,’ and suddenly I’m on some stupid little ship speeding through the fog to some stupid little island, and then before I knew it, it struck a rock or a reef or something and eight minutes later it was gone!”

 

“Wow, uh,” Steven started to say, “I... I’m sorry to hear that.”

 

Lapis blinked, realizing who she was telling this to.

 

“Oh, my apologies, I shouldn’t have dumped all that on you.”

 

“No, no,” Steven said, “You can talk to me. Pearl says I’m a good listener.”

 

Lapis chuckled before continuing, “Well, it didn’t hit me until they put me on a boat back to Britain... Halfway there I realized that I couldn’t stand being on the water anymore. I almost screamed all the way back, but if I did they’d have probably thrown me in the loony bin…”

 

Steven thought for a moment, looking at the floor, before he finally spoke.

 

“Okay, so like, when I was five my mom had this event at this club with one of those indoor swimming things in it, right?”

 

“Yeah?” Lapis asked, not sure where this was going.

 

“And since no one else was in it, I decided to get in. I didn’t know how to swim, but I could stand in it and I liked the water, ya know?”

 

“Uh-huh…”

 

“Well apparently the pool had this thing called a ‘deep end’ and I walked right off the edge and... I almost drowned.”

 

“Wow...”

 

“ _ Wow _ is right,” Steven remarked with a chuckle, “I only survived because Pearl happened to be looking for me just then and saved me. Suffice it to say I didn’t exactly want to get in or on the water after that. But here I am! On the biggest ship in the world about to go on the biggest trip of my life to a place I’ve never even been to!”

  
Lapis smiled. It was so  _ easy _ in the eyes of a child like Steven. But maybe he had a point...

 

“I guess I made it this far,” she said, “But I still don’t know if I can make it all the way to New York! That’s what, six days? With nothing around us but open sea?”

 

“Well,” Steven began, “just think of it like another week at a fancy hotel. You can hang out in the lounge, read some books, have some good food, play some games with me, have a lot of fun, and  _ Bob’s your uncle _ , we’ll be in New York!”

 

“But I don’t have an uncle.”

 

“Last call for Cherbourg!” a steward called out.

 

Lapis looked down at her bags, at Steven, and finally at her ticket proclaiming “NEW YORK” as the destination. 

 

She  _ would _ make it, she decided. 

 

She had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lapis' backstory is based on the sinking of the SS Stella, which sank in the English Channel in 1899.
> 
> Steven's backstory is based on that time I walked off into the deep end of my uncle's pool as a kid (though with less related angst afterwards).


	11. The Engineer’s Engine Room of Engineering (For Engineers)

_ “Hey.” _

 

Connie, in her much-less-preferred lower bunk, groaned slightly at the sound, attempting to go back to sleep.

 

_ “Hey, kid.” _

 

Connie’s eyes groggily slid open, revealing Amethyst hanging upside-down from her top bunk, looking at her in the darkness.

 

“...wh-wha?” she started to say before her bunkmate pressed a finger to her lips.

 

“Shh…” Amethyst whispered, “Don’t want to wake up the folks.”

 

“What is it, Amethyst?” Connie asked as quietly as she could, sitting up against the wall.

 

“Wanna sneak out?”

 

“What?”

 

“I found some cool places earlier that we can get into,” Amethyst teased, “Unless, of course, you’re not up to it…”

 

Connie folded her arms and gave a smirk, “Oh, I’m up to it alright.”

 

“Good, let’s go!” Amethyst exclaimed in a loud whisper, hopping down from the bed. She grabbed Connie’s hand and the two quietly made their way out into the hall, barely disturbing the sleep of the two elder Maheswarans in the room.

 

The two ran up the stairs to E-Deck, before heading down Scotland Road, stopping at a nondescript hatchway marked “Engineers Only.”

 

“Right this way,  _ mon chéri _ ,” Amethyst said as she pulled the hatch open.

 

“Wait, this is for the crew,” Connie protested, suddenly snapping out of her rebellion, “We- we aren’t allowed-”

 

“Oy!” a steward called out, “You’re not allowed down there!”

 

“Come on!” Amethyst said, grabbing Connie’s hand and pulled her into the narrow corridor, shutting the hatch behind them. The two then proceeded down the set of stairs on the other end of the corridor, leading them to a small, white-walled section with what appeared to be cabins on the right side and a long, plain wall on the other.

 

“What’s this place?” Connie asked as they walked to the end of the hall.

 

Amethyst opened the door at the end, revealing it to enter into the Chief Engineer’s private bath.

 

“Hey!” the very-embarrassed occupant shouted as he frantically tried to shut the door from the tub, slipping back into the water.

 

“Sorry!” Amethyst hurriedly exclaimed, covering Connie’s eyes and slamming the door closed. She turned to Connie.

 

“Let’s try another one.”

 

\---

 

“And then the fireman turns to the engineer and says, ‘Don’t look at me, she’s  _ your _ wife!’” Peri joked as she tried to make what they called “small talk” with her coworkers.

 

The other engineers politely laughed before dispersing back to their respective areas, leaving Peri alone on her watch.

 

“Well I thought it was funny,” she said, folding her arms. She climbed back up onto the catwalk and continued her rounds. Climbing up several flights of ladder stairs, past the towering engines dominating the Engine Room, she began inspecting the high pressure cylinders at the top of the engines, each of which could produce about 3,750 horsepower alone. She enjoyed this part of her watch, as it allowed her to be alone, with just herself, the steading thrumming of the engines, and the nighttime light filtering in from high above.

 

_ “Howdy!”  _ she heard a vaguely-familiar voice call out. Startled, she spun around and saw Amethyst, the woman she had run into in Southampton, sliding down the black stairway railing onto the catwalk, a young girl following her excitedly (making sure to hold onto the handrail and watch her step, of course).

 

“You?!” Peri exclaimed.

 

“Hey there hot stuff,” Amethyst replied, “long time, no see.”

 

“What are you doing down here? You’re not allowed down here!”

 

“Whaddya talkin’ about?” Amethyst said, walking up to her, “It said ‘Engineers Only,’ and we’re engineers!”

 

“I find that very hard to believe.”

 

Amethyst scoffed, “I’ll have you know I got my engineer’s diploma from the Engineering School for Engineers of Engines many years ago, and have engineered on many engine-driven engine ships! With engines.”

 

“You just said engine eight times.”

 

“That just goes to show how good I am at my job!”

 

Peri rubbed her temples.

 

“Could you please return to your areas of the ship? Or else I’ll send for the Masters At Arms and we’ll just see-”

 

The young girl scooted past Amethyst and reached out her hand.

 

“Connie Maheswaran, Ma’am,” she introduced herself, “Sorry for our intrusion. We were just really hoping to see a tremendous piece of machinery like the Titanic at work, and to learn how she operates so wonderfully and masterfully. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience our exploration and quest for knowledge has caused.”

 

Peri looked at Connie, an air of pure innocence radiating from her, and looked back at Amethyst, who, despite her utter disregard for authority, admittedly had an...  _ alluring _ sense of confidence she couldn’t ignore, and sighed.

 

“Alright, I’ll let you have a peek. But stay behind me.”

 

They proceeded down to the second level of catwalks, still out of sight from the other crewmen below.

 

“Whoa…” Amethyst said as she looked down at the engines, steam from the boilers pushing down on the pistons, connected by rods to the crankshaft, which rotated around and around to turn the propellers at full speed.

 

“How fast can this baby go?” Amethyst asked.

 

“Twenty-three knots is her top speed. That’s seventy-eight revolutions per minute. Though at the moment she’s only going at  _ seventy  _ revolutions per minute.”

 

“Why’s that?” Connie asked.

 

“I believe it is standard for ships to ease up to full speed over time on voyages like this. Gives the engines a good shakedown.”

 

“How many have you been on?”

 

“Me? Oh not that many, and certainly not any as big as the Olympic-class.”

 

Amethyst slapped her hand onto Peri’s shoulder.

 

“Well then I guess you’re pretty lucky, huh?” she remarked.

 

“I suppose I am, yes.”

 

“So what’s your job on this tub anyway?” Amethyst continued to probe.

 

“If you must know, as the Junior Assistant Sixth Engineer, I help keep watch on the Reciprocating Engines whilst in operation, and perform clerical tasks for my superior.”

 

“Pshaw,” Amethyst scoffed, “you’re probably so damn smart you could do it all on your own!”

 

“ _ Shhh! _ ” Connie reminded them from behind, though luckily the steading sound of the engines was loud enough to drown them out anyway.

 

Peri felt herself blushing, but shook it off, telling Amethyst, “It is flattering that you think so, but I am merely a junior assistant. I am not yet ready for that kind of responsibility.”

 

Amethyst was silent for a moment, before lighting up at the sight of the open bulkhead door farther aft, leading into another room.

 

“Hey, what’s over there?” Amethyst asked before grabbing Connie and running towards it.

 

“That is the turbine engine room and  _ you can’t go in there! _ ”

 

Peri ran after them down the catwalk, as the pair were spotted by her fellow crew members.

 

“Hey!” one of the engineers shouted, “You’re not allowed down here!”

 

Amethyst and Connie ran down a set of stairs to floor level, past the starting platform and into the Turbine Room.

 

Peri, reaching the end of the catwalk, sighed and returned to her work. She hoped those two wouldn’t get themselves hurt, but her domain was in this section, so they were simply out of her hands now.

 

It was a pity Amethyst had to run off like that. Peri was beginning to warm up to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey remember when this updated on Fridays typically? I completely forgot XD
> 
> Anyway, I have to give extra special thanks to Stevefury on the Encyclopedia Titanica forums, for their awesome 360 models of Titanic's Engine Room: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/community/threads/360-views-of-the-olympic-class-reciprocating-room.38115/ 
> 
> Also, the more technical explanations of the engines' operations are thanks to Encyclopedia Titanica's excellent article, Cold Starting Titanic: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/cold-starting-the-titanic.html 
> 
> Furthermore, Connie and Amethyst's burgeoning friendship was inspired mostly by my good friends over at the Faded Blue AU, wherein the two become close friends and it's awesome (I give the AU my glowing recommendation by the way XD)


	12. Sticking Our Noses Where They Don't Belong

Inside the Turbine Engine Room, Amethyst and Connie were met with the sight of the huge apparatus which contained the Titanic’s steam turbine. Said turbine turned the central propeller, acting as an afterburner of sorts for the leftover steam from the main reciprocating engines. 

 

Of course, Amethyst and Connie didn’t have time to admire the ingenuity on display, as they were being chased by several crewmen on account of the fact that they were not allowed down there. Well, at least Amethyst didn’t.

 

“Hey! Hey, wait,” Connie said as followed Amethyst up a catwalk, “Why’d you run off? I was having fun!”

 

“You haven’t experienced life if you haven’t been chased out of a restricted area at least  _ once _ !”

 

After climbing up the escape ladder, the two found themselves back up in Scotland Road, where the steward that had spotted them entering the Engineer’s Passage locked eyes with them once again.

 

In a flash of freak impulsivity, Connie grabbed Amethyst by the arm and pulled her forward down the long corridor, blurting out, “Let’s go!”

 

“Wait!” Amethyst said, chasing after her, “That’s my line!”

 

“I can’t let my parents find out I’ve been out this late,” Connie tried to explain as they pushed a stewardess out of the way, “Sorry!”

 

“Yeah,” Amethyst replied, “but I thought  _ I _ was the impulsive one!”

 

“I panicked, okay?!”

 

“This way!” Amethyst called out, bolting for a closing doorway. She and Connie made it through just before it closed, slamming it shut and pressing their backs against it on the other side. Upon catching their breaths, they immediately realized where the door had led them into: The E-Deck landing of the First Class Grand Staircase.

 

_ “Whoa” _ was all Connie could say, staring blankly at the elegant wood paneling.

 

“Fan-cy…” Amethyst remarked, also in awe. She took a few steps toward the oak-laden stairs, getting a good look at the ornate glass dome five decks up.

 

“We need to get back to Third Class right away,” Connie stated, snapping back to reality.

 

“Well you know what they say,” Amethyst commented, “The only way is up!”

 

Amethyst started to head up to D-Deck, but was stopped by Connie grabbing her arm.

 

“Wait no!” Connie frantically said, trying to maintain a whisper, “We’ll get caught!”

 

“We’ll get caught if we go back down that corridor,” Amethyst said with a shrug, “You chose to come with me, so if you wanna get back to the cabin before your parents find out, you gotta trust me. And besides, you might just have some fun. You were having fun in the Engine Room, weren’t ya?”

 

“Yeah…” Connie sighed before taking Amethyst’s hand, “Alright. Lead the way,  _ Mademoiselle Amethyst. _ ”

 

“What?”

 

“Forget it.”

 

\---

 

On D-Deck, they walked up into what was no less than the First Class Reception Room— the beautiful furniture, the wonderful paintings, the fabulous carpeting, and so on. 

 

They had little time to stare in awe at this room, however, as they spotted a steward exiting the nearby Dining Saloon, and quickly ducked behind a wicker couch, barely restraining their respective emotions– giddiness in Amethyst’s case, and sheer terror in Connie’s case.

 

Connie peeked over the edge of the couch, and guessed that there were more corridors beyond the double doors leading into the gangway foyer. If they could get through there, there might be a set of more discreet stairs that they could go down…

 

_ “Hey slowpoke! C’mon!”  _ she heard Amethyst say in a loud-whisper. Connie turned her head and saw the young woman prying open the door to the First Class Dining Saloon.

 

Connie, crouching down to avoid being seen, sighed and followed her through the double doors.

 

Inside the Dining Saloon, the stewards were beginning to set the tables for the next day’s breakfast, and were chatting amongst themselves.

 

“And then Mr. Astor said to ‘er, ‘here’s fiver, and keep the change!’”

 

“Heh, lucky sod, she was.”

 

“You better believe it. That’s a month’s holiday right there.”

 

The two explorers from Third Class, quietly closing the doors behind them, hid behind a table to their left immediately upon entering. Connie could hardly believe where she was. The Third Class Dining Saloon was satisfactory, she supposed, but this? This skyrocketed past any and all expectations. There was actual  _ silver _ ware on the tables for one thing, plus the seats were cushioned with what appeared to be actual leather. The windows lining the room (which itself was huge beyond belief) were translucent, letting in the moonlight as the ship steamed west. She wanted to savor her time in here, as she would probably never get to enter First Class again.

 

Amethyst spotted another set of double doors on the far aft end of the room, and beckoned Connie to follow. Connie shook her head and focused back on the task at hand.

 

Still crouching down behind the tables, the pair developed an easy pattern: wait for the stewards to turn their heads, run past to the next table, wait again, run to the next table, etc. Connie found herself slowly enjoying the rush that this brand of sneaking around brought her. Partly because they were succeeding. 

 

Eventually, they made it past the stewards and reached the aft end of the dining saloon, covertly going through the doors unnoticed.

 

Their faces practically lit up with excitement, but Connie silently pressed her finger against her lips, reminding Amethyst that they weren’t in the clear just yet. Banking around a wood-paneled wall and through another door, they entered the First Class Pantry, making sure to duck behind the long row of hot presses to their left.

 

Once they’d made sure the room was clear, they quickly ran through another set of doors into the Galley, which was mostly empty at this hour. The large room had a couple tables on the sides, with a long kitchen range and two steam ovens in the center, along with four stock pots.

 

Spotting someone entering from the Second Class end of the galley, Amethyst and Connie ran over to the port side of the room and crouched behind a Bain-marie station. Out of the corner of her eye, Connie saw an entryway to her right, between another stock pot and a double grill. Poking her head around the range, she got a closer look at the entryway, and could make out what was inside.

 

“Spiral staircase-!” she whispered to Amethyst, who nodded and began to make her way over, Connie quickly following behind.

 

Upon stepping through the entryway, Amethyst stuck her head up and tried to see how far the staircase went.

 

“I can’t see how far this thing goes up…” she murmured. Connie suddenly ran past her, heading up the steps with a quick pace.

 

“Like you said, the only way is up!” she called out. 

 

Amethyst gave a little smirk and went after her, remarking, “If you’re gonna be like that, you better be able to outrun me!”

 

“Oh I will!” Connie said in reply as they passed C-Deck, “I bet you’ve never had to go up six flights of stairs just to get to your apartment!”

 

“Six?” Amethyst scoffed, “Try twelve! With the landlady right across the hall ready to blow your ass off with ‘er  _ Hotchkiss _ !”

 

Amethyst quickly caught up with Connie, who had reached B-Deck and was checking out a narrow door, slightly ajar, just to the right of the staircase.

 

“I wonder what these stairs are even for…” Connie muttered as she reached to push the door open.

 

“I dunno,” Amethyst said, once again trying to see how many decks the spiral staircase went up, “but I say we keep going. This thing probably leads up to the top-”

 

Amethyst found herself interrupted by the sound of someone coming down the stairs above them, the metallic thumping echoing down to them.

 

“Shit!” Amethyst muttered, pushing Connie through the door. The two then found themselves in another galley, albeit smaller, this one for the ship’s  _ À la carte _ Restaurant.

 

The galley was more or less deserted, other than the one light on in the Chef’s Office over in the corner. There was the muffled sound of talking behind the door, but Amethyst and Connie paid it no mind while they walked around.

 

“Damn, how many places to eat do these people need?” Amethyst asked in a low voice.

 

There was a short hot press to their right, and to its left was a small grill, and a range extending to the end of the room. The only apparent exit was through the restaurant, which they admittedly didn’t want to risk after their close calls before.

 

“Larder, fish… More larder…” Amethyst said as she checked the doors on the other side of the room, hoping for another exit, “Hey, Con, you got anything?”

 

“Just confectionaries and the slop chute,” Connie replied.

 

Amethyst paused for a beat before asking, “...How big is the slope chute?”

 

Suddenly, they heard the door to the office start to open. Amethyst seized Connie’s hand and made a break for the exit... only for it to open right into her face, knocking the pair to the floor.

 

“Oi!” the waiter walking through the door called out.

 

“What are you two doing down ‘ere?” Luigi Gatti, the restaurant manager, asked as he and the head chef, Pierre Rousseau, stepped out of the office.

 

“Uh…” Amethyst started to say, trailing off as she got up off the floor.

 

“Hey, look over there!” Connie blurted out, grabbing Amethyst and pushing the waiter out of the way. They ran through the pantry into the  _ À la carte _ Restaurant, which was in the middle of cleaning up from its last dinner seating of the night.

 

The walls were adorned with the most amazing wood paneling, even better than what she had glimpsed thus far. A dazzling, two-toned rose-colored carpet spread out throughout the room, with fine china (commissioned straight from the Royal Crown Derby, no less) and flowers still sitting on some of the tables. The chairs were covered with a splendid flower pattern, each arranged delicately around each table.

 

Of course, Connie could only get a brief glimpse of the room, since she and Amethyst were in the process of running away from the restaurant staff (who were not actually chasing after them, but rather standing in place, rather perplexed at where the two interlopers had even come from). 

 

Bursting through the exit doors, Amethyst attempted to go through the Café Parisian, located immediately across, but was pulled away by Connie, who had spotted the Aft Grand Staircase just down the hall. Entering the Restaurant Reception Room, with its red furniture and green-topped wooden tables, Connie found herself in awe yet again, as she was now standing in the midsts of the Aft Staircase’s Great Glass Dome. Illuminated by a crystal chandelier, the large staircase was absolutely magnificent, with its stunning wood paneling just like the Forward Staircase, along with the wrought iron decals lining the railings. A clock stood on the wall above the mid-landing, and while it didn’t have Honor and Glory crowning it, it was still simple and elegant.

 

“Hey, Con-Con! Up or down?” she heard Amethyst ask, snapping her out of her mesmerization.

 

“Uhh…” Connie started to say, thinking over their options. If they went up, they’d likely be heading farther into First Class, but if they went down there’d probably find a way out onto the Aft Well Deck… 

 

“Down!” she said, almost diving for the stairs.

 

Unfortunately, C-Deck was where the Aft Grand Staircase ended, and so it seemed that they, in the language of Amethyst, were “shit outta luck.” That is, until Connie looked down the starboard corridor aft and saw a door at the very end that (hopefully) led out of First Class.

 

“This way, come on!” Connie called out.

 

Heading past several First Class cabins, the pair made it to the door, seemingly home-free. Until the door was opened by a steward, stopping them right in their tracks, that is. At that same moment, a door immediately to the left opened, and Amethyst thought she could see a stairway (or at least the railing of one) heading down on the other side.

 

In a flash of pure instinct, she grabbed Connie’s hand and pushed Dr. Simpson— the Assistant Surgeon, who was just coming out the door —to the side, running down the stairs... straight into the Titanic’s Isolation Hospital.

 

“Okay, this looks more like Third Class,” Connie commented once they got to the bottom of the stairs.

 

“Alright, I’ll check that side and you check-” Amethyst started to say before getting interrupted by the sound of the door labeled  _ “Attendant” _ across from the stairs starting to open.

 

_ “Why does this keep happening to us?” _ Amethyst thought as she frantically looked for a place for them to run. Around the corner, she heard footsteps approaching, and at the top of the stairs she saw Dr. Simpson about to head down after them. Right next to the stairs, there was a narrow, nondescript door. With no time to think, she flung the door open and pulled Connie inside.

 

“Where on Earth did those buggers go?” Dr. Simpson asked as he stepped down onto D-Deck.

 

“Who?” Dr. O’Loughlin, the ship’s doctor, asked in return as he rounded the corner.

 

“A couple o’ passengers ran right past me, some woman and a girl.”

 

“Well we better find ‘em,” the hospital attendant, William Dunford, remarked as he shut the door behind him.

 

“You check the Infectious rooms, John,” O’Loughlin began, “Me and Willie’ll check the other rooms.”

 

Luckily, the only room they didn’t think to check first was the one Amethyst and Connie had hidden in: The Padded Room.

 

Most popular ships of the time carried padded rooms, since when you carry basically anyone capable of buying a ticket, you have to be prepared for anything, up to and including the confinement of dangerous individuals. Titanic’s padded room was 5x6, covered from ceiling to floor in canvas cushions. And it was a pretty tight fit for two people.

 

“Where in the world…” Connie started to ask before being shushed by Amethyst. She looked out the little circular vent near the top of the door, checking to see if the coast was clear.

 

“Okay, I think we’re safe now.”

 

“That’s all well and good, but-”

 

“Hey, I was in one of these once!” 

 

“Wait, what-”

 

“C’mon, now’s our chance!”

 

Flinging the door open, Amethyst and Connie ran back up the steps and out the door, which lead out onto the indoor Second Class Promenade. Connie saw a door leading aft, but there was a crewman standing next to it, and she worried that she’d get in trouble for being where she wasn’t supposed to, which would of course lead to her parents being notified, which, well, would be bad. Although, she figured, trespassing into Second Class was still better than trespassing into First. Knowing that Amethyst couldn’t resist more exploring, she gestured to the door into the Second Class stairs, and the two quickly ran inside.

 

“Here you are, Mr. Beesley,” the lift attendant said as the elevator opened.

 

“Thank you kindly,” the passenger said as he stepped out.

 

“Hold up!” Amethyst called out, running with Connie to the elevator.

 

“Where to, Ma’am?” the attendant asked.

 

“How far down-” Connie started to ask, before getting cut off by Amethyst.

 

“The very top,  _ branleur. _ ”

 

“Boat Deck it is, then! Mind your ‘ead.”

 

A short lift ride later, and they were there.

 

“Thank ya, Jeeves!” Amethyst said as they walked out the lift, “Here’s a tip!”

 

She pressed his hand on his, making him smile in gratitude, but that smile turned into a frown of disappointment once he saw what she had handed him.

 

“Ma’am, this is a button from your coat!”

 

“Yeah, figured you could use one for between your legs.”

 

The boy was puzzled for a moment, before he looked down and realized what she meant, his face going red in embarrassment.

 

Stepping out on deck, Connie and Amethyst were breathtaken by the view of the starry horizon before them. It was partially obscured on the side by lifeboats, but looking aft, they could see it just fine, with the Last Quarter moon above them as the ship’s wake steadily trailed behind. Looking over the railing, they could see the Aft Well Deck three decks below. Third Class... seemed so far away up here.

 

“Wow…” Connie remarked, “It’s really nice out tonight.”

 

Amethyst breathed in the cool sea air, saying, “Yeah. I’ve seen better, though.”

 

Connie cocked her eyebrow, chuckling, “Where?”

 

“Ever been to Finland?”

 

“No…”

 

“Well I accidentally ended up on a boat there three years ago. Spent a summer hiking around the tundra. I think I got banned from a few villages, too… Anyway, they have these northern light thingies, so at night you can see the sky light up all colorful and junk.”

 

“Sound amazing.”

 

“Actually it’s kinda boring.”

 

“But you just-”

 

“I’m  _ kidding. _ ”

 

Amethyst looked forward down the Boat Deck, and was surprised to see a familiar face standing just behind a fence, on the Engineer’s Promenade.

 

“Well he- _ llo _ there, tall-smart-and-hotter-than-a-hickory-smoked-sausage,” Amethyst said as she strolled up to Peri, “What brings you out here on this fine evening?”

 

Peri was caught off guard by the pair’s sudden appearance this far away from the Engine Room, but for some reason she felt compelled to play along with Amethyst’s coy little game.

 

“I don’t know, short-dumb-but-kinda-scruffy, what are you doing out of Third Class?”

 

“Buh? Wha? Huh?” Amethyst fake-scoffed, “I am  _ surprised _ at you,  _ assuming  _ my background based on my overall demeanor! You should be ashamed of yourself! Why, I should report you to the highest authority!”

 

“You do that,” Peri said, rolling her eyes, “Now, Connie, was it? It was a shame we weren’t able to complete the tour.”

 

“That’s okay,” Connie replied, “What I saw was more than enough.”

 

“It is quite a sight down there,” Peri said, “And you didn’t even get to see the propeller shafts!”

 

The three continued to talk for a good while, until Connie started to yawn.

 

“Hey Amethyst, uh, I’m gonna head back down the cabin,” she told her bunkmate, “You can stay here, though, I think I know the way.”

 

“Alrighty,” Amethyst replied as she headed back towards the Second Class entrance, “Sweet dreams.”

 

Amethyst and Peri continued to talk— the latter about engine specifications and the former about her travels —for what seemed like hours. Oddly enough, it turned out to actually  _ be _ hours, because before they knew it, it was sunrise.

 

“ _ Sod _ ,” Peridot muttered, “I have my shift in a couple hours!”

 

“Eh, just get some black coffee,” Amethyst said before noticing that there were more people arriving on deck at this hour, “Speaking of which, I gotta go! They’ll be serving breakfast soon and I gotta cram my face at least once before I pass out.”

 

“See you later!”

 

“Really nice talking to you!” Amethyst called out as she ran back towards the stairs.

 

“S-same…” Peri tried to call out, but only muttered, trailing off.

 

She looked out at the brightening horizon, and smiled. Despite some frustrations, last night had been a good night. Connie was quite the interested child, and Amethyst was... well, she was Amethyst. She was the kind of person you either loved or hated, and Peri supposed Amethyst had a certain allure to her.

 

She hoped she would see her again, sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once again to Titanic: Honor and Glory for their amazing recreations of the A La Carte restaurant and the surrounding ship areas. Also thanks to Encylopedia Titanica for their Titanic deckplans, which I looked over extensively for this chapter, and to The Titanic Channel for their episode on Titanic's Padded Room, which did indeed exist.
> 
> Also, for those playing the home game, the man in the elevator was Lawrence Beesley, science teacher from Second Class and author of "The Loss of the SS Titanic"
> 
> (Bonus note: I actually prefer the landing of the Aft Grand Staircase to the Forward Grand Staircase. Fight me nerds.)


	13. A Queenstown Snack

_ On Board The RMS Titanic _

_ April 11, 1912 _

 

Steven and Pearl sat in the Titanic’s Verandah Café, commonly known as the Palm Court due to the palm fronds decorating the corners, having tea and light pastry snacks. They were eating in the starboard Palm Court, commonly used by women and children (as the portside Café was connected to the Smoking Room via revolving door, which made it the “Men’s” section, even though there were technically no restrictions on either side). Steven and Pearl were seated in a pair of wicker chairs by the window, turned slightly towards each other so they could converse.

 

It was nearly midday, and they could see Queenstown, Ireland out in the distance. It was a beautiful day, if partly cloudy (which Steven kind of preferred, since it meant the sun wasn’t as intense). Titanic had dropped anchor off the coast of Ireland late that morning, near Roches Point, its last Port of Call before heading off to New York.

 

“Steven,” Pearl said as she put down her tea, “you really shouldn’t run off like you do. I get worried.”

 

“I don’t do it  _ that _ much,” Steven insisted, “And besides, you don’t need to watch me  _ all _ the time.”

 

“It’s a big ship,” Pearl insisted in return, “And I don’t want you to get lost!”

 

“I’ll be  _ fine _ , Pearl, really.”

 

Pearl shook her head. “You know I can’t be sure of that. You don’t know who’s on a ship like this! You could be abducted! Or worse!”

 

Steven shrugged. “Now why would anyone wanna do that?”

 

“Well, Steven, let’s not forget that you  _ are _ set to inherit a large sum of your mother’s fortune,” Pearl reminded him, “That’s why you must be careful.” She ruffled his hair playfully. “Plus, I don’t know what I’d do without a precious wittle baby boy to take care of.”

 

“C’mon Pearl, I’m 14,” Steven chuckled, pushing her hand away.

 

“Yes, but you’re still a baby to me,” Pearl said with a smile, sipping her tea. She failed to notice that Steven was looking blankly at his cup of tea, lost in thought since the mention of his inheritance. He shook those thoughts away and looked out the window again, seeing the paddle-steamer Ireland, one of the Queenstown tenders, pass by as it ferried second class passengers to the gangway doors on the portside of the ship.

 

“Hey look!” Steven said, standing up on his chair to get a closer view of it.

 

“Steven, don’t stand on top of the chair,” Pearl scolded as she turned her head to look out the window as well.

 

“I think it’s heading over to the other side!” Steven said as he hopped off of his seat, “Let’s go check it out!”

 

Steven pulled open the sliding doors aft and ran out onto the promenade. Pearl sighed and handed her and Steven’s teacups to a nearby steward, before following after him onto the deck.

 

Outside, it was a tad cool, with a light breeze blowing in from the north. Steven was on the portside, watching the Ireland dock at the Second Class gangway doors. Pearl joined him, intrigued in some respect by the process of embarking/disembarking. On board the Ireland, there were approximately ten passengers waiting to embark, along with a few Irish journalists tagging along for pictures. Pearl didn’t pay them much mind, until she caught the eye of one, fairly large, long-haired woman in a pair of dark overalls. She winked, even though they were several floors apart.

 

Pearl blushed on the spot.

 

\---

 

Bismuth breathed in the cool April air as she walked the deck of the Ireland. The mammoth RMS Titanic stood before her, towering above the small paddle-steamer. She was heading back to New York after a Spring vacation in the British Isles. An architect by trade (with a side interest in naval architecture particularly), Bismuth had been curious to see how the British designed their buildings and ships, and was very impressed thus far. The Titanic was the icing on the cake, even looking at the vessel from outside.

 

She’d kept up with her shipbuilding magazines, so she knew her salt when it came to the logistics. 882 ½ feet long, 92 ½ feet wide amidships, 104 feet tall from the keel to the superstructure, 52,310 tons of water displaced, and so on. Of course she could only afford  _ Second _ Class, but that was no problem with her.

 

Over a decade earlier, she was just a nobody from nowhere, not a penny to her name, sitting in the slums of New York. Now? She had made a name for herself as an architect— not a particularly well-known one, sure, but it allowed her to put food on the table —and eventually she found herself with the means to travel to Ireland of all places! And not just any ship, but on the Titanic, the largest moving object in the world (and she did love record-breakers; she’d worked on the Metropolitan Life Tower, after all).

 

Looking up at the Titanic’s promenades, she saw a young woman standing alongside a boy, who was looking down excitedly while the former simply watched. Until, that is, they briefly locked eyes, and Bismuth decided to wink. She didn’t really know why, other than that she was in that kind of mood. 

 

Plus, it seemed to make the young woman’s day.

 

\---

 

Steven saw Lapis on the other side of the deck, staring at the view. He wanted to go hang out with her, but kinda wanted it to just be them, knowing Pearl would want to supervise (he hadn’t even mentioned Lapis to her yet). Then he noticed Pearl staring down at the large woman on the deck of the Ireland, oblivious to anything else.

 

“Hey Pearl?” Steven began, “Can I go hang out with Lapis?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, sure…” Pearl said, waving him off.

 

A smug smile appeared on Steven’s face. “Can I swim to Ireland?”

 

“Uh-huh…”

 

“Can I shave my head?”

 

“Yup…”

 

“Can I run around in the nude?”

 

“Without a doubt…”

 

“Can you hear me getting farther away?” Steven asked as he quietly stepped away from her.

 

“Yes, yes, uh-huh…”

 

“Well... I’ll see you at dinner!”

 

“Sure, sure…”

 

Steven quickly ran over to the other side of the ship, giggling all the way, to meet with Lapis. He gestured forward down the promenade, where they ran out of sight of Pearl. A few seconds later, Pearl snapped back into reality and looked around desperately.

 

_ “Steven?!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter has a double meaning. You have three guesses as to what it is XD
> 
> Thanks again to Encyclopedia Titanica for their article on the Queenstown tenders America & Ireland (https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-tender-america.html) as well as Michael V Ralph's article on the Titanic's arrival in Queenstown (http://www.titanic-store.com/en/content/9-arrives-queenstown) and Irish Weather Online’s write-up about the weather conditions that day (https://irishweatheronline.wordpress.com/climate-of-ireland/historic-weather-events/weather-conditons-during-rms-titanics-voyage/)


	14. Farewell to Ireland

“Steven?! Steven??? Oh, Steven, where have you gone…” Pearl cried out as Steven was nowhere to be found. She had looked around every immediate area of deck-space on that end of the ship, but he hadn’t turned up anywhere. Growing increasingly worried, Pearl ran through the sliding double doors into the portside Verandah Café, thinking Steven had gone in there. This section was mostly used by men, and it was just like Steven to still want to play with “the big kids,” so-to-speak. However, she still could not find him, and her darkest fears were starting to rear their ugly heads. What if he had gotten lost? _ Or hurt? _

 

There was a revolving door on the forward wall, leading into the First Class Smoking Room. Said room was designed much like a fine English gentlemen’s club, with rich, dark mahogany lining the walls in an elegant Georgian Style, complemented by lightly-tinted stained glass windows and a painting of Plymouth Harbor over the fireplace. Pearl would have probably enjoyed seeing it if she weren’t scared for Steven’s life or being met by a steward and several unpleasant, wealthy men.

 

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, no women are allowed in the Smoking Room,” the steward informed her.

 

“I know that!” she exclaimed, “But what I don’t know is where my little Steven is!”

 

“Ma’am-”

 

“He could have run in here!”

 

“Ma’am-”

 

“He could be kidnapped!”

 

“Ma’am-”

 

_ “Maybe he fell into the sea!” _

 

“Ma’am, we can search for him, but you’re going to have to leave.”

 

“Fine! If you won’t take this seriously, I’ll find him myself!” Pearl shouted, pushing past the steward, “Steven? Steven! Are you in here?”

 

Several men playing cards continued their game without batting an eye at the pale woman running through the hazy space as the steward chased after her.

 

“What’s that all about?” one of them asked.

 

“I haven’t a clue,” another replied, turning back to their game.

 

“Women,” another chuckled as Pearl hurried out into the Aft Grand Staircase, desperately seeking her beloved Steven.

 

\---

 

Back out on the A-Deck Promenade, Steven, on the starboard side with Lapis, peeked around the corner to see if the coast was clear.

 

“Phew, she’s gone,” Steven laughed.

 

“Why didn’t you want to be around her?” Lapis asked.

 

“Well for one thing I wanted us to have some time together! And, well, Pearl tries to never let me out of her sight…”

 

“...and when opportunity knocked, you opened the door,” Lapis said with a knowing smile.

 

“You could say that.”

 

They stood there for a few moments, silently watching the view of Ireland off in the distance, before Lapis finally spoke.

 

“So,” she asked, “what’d you wanna do?”

 

“I dunno,” Steven shrugged, “What’d you wanna do?”

 

“I was asking you,” Lapis chuckled, “But there was something I did wanna check out…”

 

“What?”

 

“Farther down on deck, they, uh, let on some Irish people selling stuff and I, uh, wanted to maybe buy something…”

 

“Oh! That sounds cool,” Steven said, taking Lapis’ hand, “C’mon, let’s go!”

 

Lapis sighed and, with a smile, let the boy lead the way.

 

\---

 

On the A-Deck Promenade, an assortment of Queenstown vendors had been let on board to sell their wares to the prosperous First Class passengers who would buy them. It was a rare mixing of the lower classes and the upper classes, albeit under the most controlled of controlled circumstances. There was a fairly decent assortment of items being sold, most of the vendors selling either Irish lace garments or simple souvenirs. One seller caught Lapis’ eye— a woman in black selling a white, lace scarf.

 

“How much for that?” she asked.

 

“Ten quid, ma’am,” the Irish lady replied.

 

Lapis opened up her purse and, after fiddling around inside it for a minute, had a look on her face that seemed embarrassed and disappointed— both with herself.

 

“I, uh, exchanged all my money into dollars before I left…”

 

She was just about to step away and let someone else buy it, only for Steven to come up behind her and hand the woman a £10 note, proclaiming, “It’s on me!”

 

Lapis gave a hesitant, surprised smile as the vendor gave her the scarf and wished her and Steven a good day. She tried it on and even gave a little laugh as Steven took her hand and excitedly ran down the deck.

 

“Thank you, Steven!”

 

“No problem! I had that leftover in my pocket from my birthday last year.”

 

“Wait,  _ you got ten whole pounds for your birthday?” _

 

“Doesn’t everyone?”

 

\---

 

“So, like, what if there was this  _ giant octopus _ that burst out of the water and grabbed the ship, all dramatic?” Steven remarked as he stood up on the aft railing, “And it was like ‘Rarraaah!’ and we were like ‘Aaaaahhhhh!’” 

 

Lapis, laying in a deck chair nearby, chuckled. “Where’d you get an idea like that?” she asked him.

 

“Oh, lots of places I guess,” Steven mused, looking out at Ireland in the distance, “Well, there was this one book, uh,  _ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, _ I read a lot as a kid. Ever read it?”

 

“No, I don’t think so. I actually haven’t really read that much since, uh, you know.”

 

“Aw man, you gotta read it! It’s got far-off places, this cool guy called ‘Captain Nemo,’ an awesome submarine…”

 

“And a giant octopus?”

 

Steven chuckled. “And a giant octopus.”

 

“Well I’ll have to check it out sometime,” Lapis shrugged.

 

“I’ll see if they have it in the Lounge!” Steven exclaimed, “They got a ton of books in there!”

 

“Wait, Steven—!” Lapis tried to say before Steven ran off, leaving her to simply sigh and shake her head. He didn’t have to go to all that trouble for her, she thought.

 

\---

 

Titanic’s Lounge was done in Rococo, a style very popular with Americans across the pond, with opulent oak carvings covering practically every inch of wallspace, along with several gilded sconces lighting the sides of the room. On both sides of the room, there were rows of bay windows, each done in pale-colored stained glass, where a few first class women were having tea. In the corners, there were little inglenooks, where a couple private card games were taking place. And in the center of the aft wall, opposite a large, unlit fireplace, was the bookcase.

 

Steven ran in through a revolving door, turned the corner and found himself in front of the towering bookcase. A steward was standing next to it, and knelt down in front of Steven.

 

“Now what can I get for you, young lad?” he asked.

 

“Um, do you have Twenty Thousand Leagues?”

 

“Under the Sea? I believe we do,” the steward said, turning to search the library.

 

Steven stood by and waited, until he was suddenly startled by a familiar sound.

 

_ “STEVEN?! STEVEN WHERE ARE YOU???”  _ Pearl cried out, dashing into the lounge. Steven quickly ducked under a small table across from the bookcase, hoping she wouldn’t find him.

 

“Ah, ‘ere it is,” the steward said, pulling out the novel and turning to hand it to Steven, who was nowhere to be seen. Steven cleared his throat, getting the steward’s attention.

 

“Oh, playing hide an’ seek, are we?”   
  


Steven nodded and pressed his index finger against his lips, tilting his head in the direction of Pearl (who was looking under every table on the other side of the room). The steward got the message and knelt down to the boy’s level when Pearl’s back was turned.

 

“Well, here you go, sir,” he whispered, “It’s a good read, that one. Just make sure to return it at the end of the voyage. Oh, and don’t leave it under a deck chair. That’s a bit of a problem, heh.”

 

Steven gave a thumbs-up and the steward went back to work, immediately noticing that Pearl was now trying to enter the Lounge Bar.

 

“What seems to be the trouble here?” he asked, interrupting an argument she was having with another steward.

 

“I am  _ trying  _ to find my little Steven but your  _ compatriots _ won’t let me conduct my search thoroughly!”

 

“Ma’am, I assure you,” the steward told her, looking over her shoulder to see Steven covertly exit the room, “wherever he is, he’s not in the bar.”

 

“You don’t know that! He could have gotten himself locked into a wine cooler!  _ He might be freezing to death as we speak!” _

 

\---

 

“Wow,” Lapis remarked as she finished the first chapter of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, “This is a pretty great book, Steven.”

 

“I’m glad you like it!” Steven said, standing across from her. 

 

He stood up on the bottommost rung of the railing and took in his surroundings. Down below, he saw the PS Ireland— which had finished taking on the final disembarking First and Second Class passengers —pulling away. On board, he saw a man taking photographs of the ship with a small camera. The man turned said camera up towards the aft A-Deck promenade, and took a picture. Steven made sure to smile, although he knew he was probably too far away to be seen in the photo. 

 

After the last of the cargo and passengers were loaded on board, the two tenders returned to Queenstown, and Titanic’s side anchor was hoisted up out of the seabed. As the massive liner prepared to get back underway, the engines were brought back online. Titanic’s propellers began to rotate once more, pushing the ship past the Old Head of Kinsale and away from the British Isles.

 

As Ireland got smaller and smaller on the horizon, Lapis exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Now there was no turning back. Sure, she decided to stay on board at Cherbourg, but she did feel safer with the idea that  _ if _ she changed her mind, there was always Queenstown the next day. Now? She was in it for the long haul. Lapis sighed and turned her attention back to the book. It was a nice distraction, for the moment at least.

 

Steven remained at the aft railing, wistfully watching Ireland recede into the ocean mist behind them. Down below on the Poop Deck, there was a third class passenger with a set of bagpipes, playing “Erin’s Lament,” a farewell dirge to his homeland. As the pipes bellowed note after note, and as the last bits of land vanished behind the endless sea, Steven felt himself tearing up. He realized that this was, indeed, his last goodbye to the British Isles, the place he’d spent his entire life. He knew the facts of the matter in short order— his mother’s last wishes were for him to be raised in his father’s care in America. He’d known that for months. But the facts hadn’t hit him until Titanic was surrounded completely by open ocean. He would likely never get to go back there until he’d reached adulthood, and by then he’d probably be too busy with typical “high society” stuff to care. 

 

He shook those negative thoughts away, snapping back to reality. The man with the bagpipes had finished playing, and had gone down to the Aft Well Deck. Also down there, he spotted an Indian girl about his age and a short young woman standing by her side, the latter showing her how to spit over the edge, it seemed. It was the same girl he’d waved to back in Southampton (he never forgot a face). The pair then journeyed back inside, and for a moment Steven thought the girl had looked back at him before stepping through the door. Somehow, he felt himself drawn to her.

 

“Uh, Lapis?” he asked, hopping off the railing.

 

“Yeah?” Lapis replied, not looking away from her book.

 

“I’m gonna, um, go down to Third Class and take a look around.”

 

“Uh-huh…”

 

“You probably wouldn’t like it so, er, I’ll just leave you right here.”

 

“Good, good…”

 

“See ya!” Steven shouted as he ran off.

 

“See ya,” she waved, turning to the next page in her book. 

 

Steven was a good kid, Lapis thought. If left unsupervised, she figured that he wouldn’t get into any trouble.

 

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. You would not believe how little information there is on the vendors that briefly boarded at Queenstown. But they were real! I do know that.
> 
> 2\. Thanks to Titanic Channel, specifically historian Bill Sauder, for their episode on Titanic’s First Class Lounge.
> 
> 3\. Steven’s joke about the octopus grabbing the ship is a reference to that animated Titanic movie. No, the other one.
> 
> 4\. The man playing the bagpipes as the ship departed is Eugene Daly, who actually filed suit against the White Star Line for the loss of his bagpipes after the sinking.


	15. Out Amongst The Common Folk

“And then what happened?” Connie asked as Amethyst told one of her many stories. They were sitting in the Third Class General Room, which, while not as ornately decorated as the upper classes, was still perfectly serviceable— there were wooden benches surrounding the room and lining its middle, as well as assorted card tables littered throughout. Connie and Amethyst were seated at one of the latter, on the starboard side, where portholes let in the bright daylight.

 

“Well, needless to say, I couldn’t set foot in Denmark anymore, so I hitched a boat to Sweden— that’s Amethyst-talk for stealing one —and after that  _ boy _ it got crazy, lemme tell ya…”

 

As Amethyst continued the story, Connie couldn’t help but notice a boy near her age entering the room. She quickly averted her eyes, however, not wanting him to think she was staring.

 

Steven, ruffling up his neatly-combed hair to “blend-in,” spotted Connie but nervously ran to the opposite side of the room. He needed something to get her attention. Sitting on the wood bench, he saw that at the center of the aft wall was a piano. Not as big as the one in the First Class Reception Room of course, but a piano nonetheless. Slicking his hair back and taking a deep breath, Steven nonchalantly walked over, sat down, cracked his knuckles (which Pearl told him was bad for his hands somehow), and began to play. Hopefully those lessons Pearl signed him up for were worth it.

 

Connie cocked her head at the sound of the piano playing as the notes pleasantly wafted through the room. Then she started tapping her foot to it. Eventually she stopped paying attention to Amethyst altogether, and looked over her friend’s shoulder to get a better look at the wonderful player, who was getting a good amount of attention from the other passengers. She blushed when she realized who it was.

 

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Amethyst asked, putting a hold on her story. A crowd was gathering around the piano, mostly of kids.

 

“Damn, that guy’s good,” Amethyst commented, “He’s something outta Beethoven or...something. I don’t actually know who Beethoven is...”

 

“Yeah…” Connie said, her cheeks still red.

 

Steven finished playing, turning around to see the crowd surrounding him giving a sizable applause. He blushed.

 

“Aw, thanks,” he said, bowing, “It was nothing, it was nothing.”

 

He blushed even more when the crowd dispersed and he saw Connie standing sheepishly next to Amethyst, less than a few feet away from him. Connie had almost gained the nerve to speak to him, but she was interrupted by her unsavory friend.

 

“Man, that music was great!” Amethyst said, slapping him on the back, “How’d ya get so good?”

 

“Uh, practice?”

 

“Works for me! I’m Amethyst,” Amethyst said as she shook the boy’s hand, “And this is  _ thine associate _ , Connie.”

 

“Hey there, Connie,” Steven introduced himself shakily, “I’m Steven.”

 

Steven extended his hand, and Connie, looking up into his smiling, reassuring eyes, suddenly felt at ease. She took his hand and gave it a shake.

 

“Pleased to meet you,” she said confidently, “What brings you on this trip?”

 

“Yeah,” Amethyst agreed, beckoning the two to sit back down on a nearby bench with her, “Where you headed, little man?”

 

“Oh, uh,” Steven stammered, “Nowhere special.”

 

Amethyst smirked. “You on the run?”

 

“What?” Steven scoffed, “No, no, of course not.  _ What kind of charlatan do you take me for?” _

 

“Jeez, okay!” Amethyst said, backing off, “I’m heading back home myself. Connerica here is going to Philly with her folks.”

 

“Oh,” Steven remarked, “My family’s actually, uh, moving to Delaware, so it’s not too far from Philadelphia, I don’t think...”

 

Connie actually chuckled, finally speaking up. “I thought you said it was ‘nowhere special.’”

 

“Uh…” Steven trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

 

Breaking the silence that followed, Amethyst slapped the two on the back. “Hey, you ever snuck around the ship yet?”

 

“...What?” Steven asked with a nervous laugh.

 

“Me and Connerific did it last night. She had fun! You had fun right?”

 

Connie smiled as she averted her eyes. “Yeah, I did…”

 

“Well, since your parents said I could watch you today, I believe it is my responsibility to give you an even funner time than last night, and I found some more places to get into earlier,” Amethyst said faux-seriously, “You want in, Steve-o?”

 

“Sure! Sure, I’d, uh, love to... what are we doing again?”

 

\---

 

Amethyst led the two back out to the main Third Class staircase and down to D-Deck. Steven was fascinated with the bare plainness of this section of the ship, as it stood in stark contrast to the opulence he’d been accustomed to for most of his life. And if he had to be honest, he liked it. The walls weren’t covered in gilded carvings or elaborate, priceless works of art (that he continually ended up breaking much to Pearl’s frustration back home). It was simple.

 

Upon stepping down onto the D-Deck landing, Amethyst approached a door marked “Second Class: No Admittance” and put her hand to the knob. Steven, looking nervously back and forth between the sign and Amethyst, suddenly grabbed the latter’s arm and stopped her.

 

“Wait!” he exclaimed before quieting back down to an awkward stammer, “The, uh, sign says it’s Second Class only and, uh, you’re, I mean,  _ we’re _ Third Class so we aren’t allowed... to... go there…”

 

Amethyst snorted and put her hand back to the doorknob. “You have a lot to learn, Steve-o.” 

 

To Steven’s surprise, opening the door didn’t set off a barrage of alarm bells or alert some squad of guards, but instead just opened like any other door. 

 

“Methinks the servants need to work on their locking habits,” Amethyst remarked as she checked to see if the coast was clear. It was, and she gestured them to follow through the threshold. From there, they were deep within the Second Class quarters. The corridor wasn’t all that different from the First Class hallways, but as they moved farther forward, they found themselves surrounded by wood paneling, as they reached the Second Class stairs and the entrance to the Dining Saloon. 

 

The paneling was nice, Steven thought, somewhat of a middle ground between the bareness of Third and the— in his opinion —gaudy ornateness of First. The Dining Saloon was similar. Oak covered every inch of wallspace, with rows of long tables lining the floor, each surrounded by dark mahogany swivel chairs. Large portholes covered both the port and starboard sides. Steven, on balance, decided he liked this the best. Connie and Amethyst however, having just experienced First Class the previous night, were just a bit underwhelmed.

 

The room was being set for the next meal seating, and was therefore filled with stewards. Amethyst and Connie, with their experience from the earlier night, knew to duck under a nearby table. Steven, on the other hand, stood like a deer in the headlights.

 

“Hey, Short-Young-And-Good-At-Piano!” Amethyst whispered as she grabbed Steven’s arm and pulled him away from the door, “You tryin’ to get us caught?”

 

“Uh, n-no,” Steven nervously laughed off.

 

Connie chuckled at that, and look over her shoulder at the boy. The two silently smiled at each other for several moments, before Amethyst rolled her eyes and muttering, “Oh, get a room...” before continuing to crawl along the floor.

 

“Amethyst!” Connie loudly whispered, following behind her. Connie’s face was red with embarrassment, but certainly not as much as Steven’s.

 

\---

 

The trio, after making their way across the Dining Saloon, entered the Galley. Directly in front of them were sets of open windows looking into the Second Class Pantry, which had a couple servants and kitchen staff inside, all thankfully with their backs turned. They quickly ducked under the windowsill, out of view. They heard a stewardess walk in, looking for something.

 

“Jenny? Jenny? Here, girl…” the stewardess called out, “Have anyone seen Jenny?”

 

“Who’s Jenny?” Connie whispered, not really expecting either of her comrades to know.

 

“The cat? Oh, I haven’t seen her or the kittens since Southampton,” a fellow steward shrugged as he continued working. 

 

Outside, the three trespassers heard footsteps approaching from down the hall behind them. Realizing that they couldn’t head back into the Dining Saloon, the group spotted an alcove further down the hall, to the left, and made a break for there.

 

“Do you think she may have left the ship?” the stewardess asked, worried.

 

“I sure hope not. Would mean bad luck for us if she did,” the steward remarked, “Them animals can sense stuff, Jessop, don’t you forget it.”

 

“Is this another one of your stories about your dog telling you about when rain was coming?”

 

“Hey, he was practically psychic, I tell ya!”

 

In the alcove the trio was scurrying towards, there was a door leading to a set of stairs that went down one deck, and, much to their chagrin, said door swung open just as they reached it.

 

“What the-?” the steward heading up the stairs exclaimed in surprise.

 

“ _ Excusez moi,  _ sir  _ connard _ ,”  Amethyst said as she grabbed Steven & Connie by the arms, “Us no  _ sprechen _ ze English!” She and the pair of kids then bolted down the hall, away from the galley staff now alerted to their presence. Reaching the far corner, Steven spotted what appeared to be a lift behind a Bostwick gate, with a sign marked “HOIST” placed above it.

 

“Hey, in there!” Steven called out, beckoning the others to follow. Amethyst, seeing that they were about to be surrounded, decided not to look a gift escape route in the mouth and followed him and Connie onto the hoist, shutting the gates in front of them.

 

_ “Arrivederci!”  _ Amethyst shouted as she threw the control switch into the down position, propelling the hoist away from the galley— past decks D, E, F, G —all the way down to the Orlop Deck, only one deck below the waterline and just above the Engine Room. Since this was the farthest it could go down, the hoist practically slammed into the bottom of the shaft, knocking the three off balance and onto the floor. And, of course, Steven and Connie had fallen onto each other.

 

“...Sorry!” Steven blurted out as he immediately stood up and backed up against the gate, gasping in surprise. 

 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Connie chuckled, returning to her feet.

 

“What’s this place?” Amethyst asked, pulling the gate open.

 

They’d landed down the refrigerated food storage area, which consisted of two decks, just aft of the Turbine Engine, where things like wine, meat, groceries and so on were stored. Also the tobacco.

 

“Hey, cool! Cigars!” Amethyst exclaimed, opening a nearby door. Ahead of the trio was a long hallway with doors on each side, along with a set of stairs directly in front of the hoist leading up.

 

Steven and Connie looked at each other excitedly and peeked behind another door, which contained the supply of dried fruits. As the cold air from the refrigerated space flowed out into the hall, Steven found himself disappointed somewhat, but Connie certainly wasn’t.

 

“Whoa, look at all the dehydrated produce!” Connie said in amazement. Amethyst chuckled, not really seeing the appeal. Steven went around the corner to another door and took a look inside.

 

“Ooh, mineral waters!” he said, rushing inside. He came out with a bottle of the stuff, which looked basically like normal water but with bubbles in it.

 

“What’s that?” asked Connie.

 

“Sometimes it’s just water with salt and stuff in it,” Steven explained, “But I think they have the good kind where it’s all fizzy.”

 

“Wait,” Amethyst said as she finished stuffing as many cigars into her pockets as possible, “those first class assholes are so uptight they need special water? Pffft, now that’s a laugh.”

 

“Well I-” Steven started to say before hearing footsteps coming down the stairs.

 

“Shit, cheese it!” Amethyst blurted out, looking for a room to hide in. She ducked into a door across from them, which was marked “CHAMPAGNE.”

 

_ “Sweet!” _ they heard her happily exclaim.

 

“Hey, wait!” Steven said, about to bang on the door. Connie grabbed his arm and pulled him down the hall as a steward stepped off the stairs.

 

“...and they need a few more pounds of beef up in the galley,” a voice said from one deck up.

 

“I’ll make sure to get that up to ‘em, as well,” the steward nodded as Connie and Steven quietly ran through the doorway at the end of the hall, quietly closing the hatch. Behind it, there was a wide corridor running from one side of the ship to the other. Hearing the steward approaching, Steven pointed down the corridor and the pair quickly ran to a door marked “Thawing Room.” Inside the Thawing Room, there were two doors, some shelves, and a chopping block for meat. It was pretty chilly, causing Connie to hug her forearms for warmth (Steven had his coat and his fairly chubby physique, so he was less affected). The two leaned against the wall and caught their breath.

 

“Weird day, huh?” Steven asked, trying to be nonchalant.

 

“A little, yeah,” Connie mused, “But it’s fun!”

 

“Yeah! Pearl would never let me do this back home.”

 

“Pearl?”

 

“She looks after me most of the time. Well, all the time now, since my mom, uh, passed.”

 

“Oh,” Connie said, her eyes widening in surprise, “I’m sorry.”

 

“Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

 

“Okay…” Connie shook her head, changing the subject, “Anyway, uh, this may sound weird but-”

 

“What?”

 

“Well, I feel like I’ve seen you before,” Connie remarked, “I dunno, you just seem oddly... familiar.”

 

“Well, I  _ am  _ pretty memorable,” Steven chuckled.

 

“I guess I just saw you in the halls yesterday and forgot about it.”

 

“Uh... yeah, that’s definitely what happened,” Steven laughed nervously, “I remember now. In the halls. The Third Class halls. Which is the class of which we are passengers of. Yeah.”

 

Before Connie could even give a look of bewilderment, they heard the door leading out to the corridor start to open. She gestured to the other two doors and the pair quickly ran inside one of them. Behind said doors, there were two rooms— one for beef to be used on the Westbound half of the voyage, and another for the Eastbound half after New York. Fortunately for Steven and Connie, they happened to hide in the room for Eastbound beef, with the steward heading through the other door.

 

The room was nearly freezing cold, with tons of raw meat hanging from the ceiling on rails. Both Connie and Steven almost gagged at the sight, before shivering intensely at the cold.

 

“I-I-I think h-he’s g-gone n-now…” Connie said, her teeth chattering.

 

“Y-yeah I-I th-think we can g-g-go,” Steven replied, reaching for the door. 

 

Seeing that the coast was clear, the two ran out into the corridor and back onto the hoist.

 

“Where to, Mister?” Connie asked with a dopey grin, gesturing towards the lift control panel.

 

“Surprise me,” Steven replied, his hand subconsciously taking hers. Connie closed her eyes and threw the switch into the UP position, propelling the pair of newfound friends back up the decks.

 

In their haste, they only forgot one thing.

 

\---

 

As the steward took his fresh supply of foodstuffs to be sent up to the galley, he heard a song echoing through the hallway. 

 

_ “Oooh, uuh I was-a strolling through a park one day….” _

 

The singing was very slurred, but also very loud. One of his fellows upstairs could even hear it.

 

“Sandrini,” they called from the stairway, “Keep it down. This is a ship, not the opera.”

 

_ “In the merry ve-ery month of April... Wait no, uhhh, March? May? Uh, May!” _

 

“It’s not me, Mr. Smethells!” he shouted back, “I think a passenger’s down here somewhere!”

 

The two stewards eventually narrowed the source of the singing to the room for Champagne storage, opening it up to reveal a short young woman, about twenty-five years old, sprawled out on the floor with an open case of Champagne bottles to one side, a fully-empty bottle to the other, and a half-full one in her hands. 

 

“When much to my su-pwrise, something-something ‘-prise’…” she drunkenly trailed off before looking up at the stewards with half-lidded eyes, “Oh hi fellas!”

 

“Do you want me to send for the Master at Arms, sir?” Sandrini asked his superior.

 

“No, you may continue with your work,” Smethells said, shaking his head, “I will send for them.”

 

“Wh-who you gettin’?” Amethyst asked, trying to stand up, “I… I’ll… I’ll only except nothin’ or _nuh-body_ less than _Monsieur_ _Capitan_ himself!” She immediately fell back on the floor, beginning to laugh.

 

Smethells shook his head. This was most irregular. 

 

Most irregular, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jenny, the ship's cat, was indeed real, and one sailor reported after the sinking that he had seen her and her kittens leaving the ship in Southampton. The stewardess talking about her this chapter is Violet Jessop, the famed survivor of the sinkings of the Titanic and the Britannic, and the Olympic's collision with HMS Hawke. One of my personal favorite survivors.
> 
> The two stewards at the end, Sandrini and Smethels, and references to stewards from the 2012 Titanic miniseries and Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, respectively.


	16. Lost and Found

“Now  _ you  _ listen to me, you  _ skinflint _ charlatan,” Pearl shouted in front of the Enquiry Office on C-Deck, “I have searched every area you say he could have gotten into—” 

 

“Ma’am?” Purser McElroy said, maintaining his professional composure.

 

“—from the Lounge to the Grand Staircases to even the First Class cabins on  _ E-Deck _ for God’s sake!”

 

“Ma’am.”

 

“So  _ you  _ don’t get to tell  _ me _ where he couldn’t have possibly gone!”

 

“Ma’am, we are doing the best that we can. I have already sent for the Master at Arms to conduct a search of the other areas, but unfortunately he’s busy at the moment–”

 

“Too busy to find _a baby boy_ who could be _lost_ _or possibly injured lying comatose in some disused ventilation shaft somewhere?!”_

 

“...How old did you say your boy was?” McElroy asked.

 

“Fourteen,  _ but that is besides the point!”  _ Pearl barked, marching off in a huff.

 

If the Titanic’s crew wouldn’t help her find Steven, she would have to find him herself. She had practically combed through the entire First Class section, which meant Steven would have to be in the other sections of the ship. Like  _ Second _ and  _ Third _ and dare she think...  _ Crew. _

 

And she would not rest until she found him.

 

\---

 

Many in First Class, given their first impression of Thomas Andrews, wouldn’t in a million years imagine the well-dressed Irishman to be deep down in the blazing-hot, sooty boiler rooms, dressed in not a suit and tie but in a pair of denim overalls. As a member of the nine-person “Guarantee Group,” it was his job to ensure everything on the Maiden Voyage ran smoothly. And while he wasn’t  _ that _ involved in the ship’s design— that credit went to Bruce Ismay (President of the White Star Line, who originally commissioned Titanic), Lord Pierre (head of shipbuilder Harland & Wolff, who drew up the first rough drafts of the ship) and Alexander Carlisle (Chief Naval Architect for Titanic, who had retired after mostly completing the designs, leaving the rest of the work for Andrews) —he still felt a connection to the massive steamer. As he stepped through each Boiler Room, he received smiles and friendly looks all ‘round. And Boiler Room #6, the farthest one forward, was no exception.

 

“Ey, Mr. Andrews,” Frederick Barrett greeted as the man stepped through the bulkhead doorway, “Top of the morning to ya.” 

 

“Well I believe it’s actually the afternoon,” Andrews joked, “But the sentiment is appreciated. How’re the boilers running?”

 

“Ruby!” Barrett suddenly shouted towards the short coal trimmer not too far away, “Don’t just stand there, are ya tryin’ to be lazy or are ya just daft?!”

 

“Sorry sir!” Ruby blurted out, pushing her empty wheelbarrow back to the coal bunker and mentally kicking herself over getting so distracted by Mr. Andrews’ presence.

 

“Sorry about that Mr. Andrews,” Barrett said, turning back to the shipbuilder, “She’s a beautiful job.”

 

“Glad to hear it,” Andrews nodded.

 

“Er, how are they handling that bunker fire in number five, if I may?” Barrett asked over the sound of coal being shovelled into the boilers.

 

“Ah, it’s only some smoldering coals,” Andrews reassured, “Right now they’re just moving the coal out to the other bunkers, I believe.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Barrett remarked as Andrews nodded and climbed the escape ladder back up to E-Deck, finishing his inspection.

 

“A fire?” Ruby worried, rolling her wheelbarrow of coal over to Jasper.

 

“Happens, shortsquatch,” the beefy stoker replied, gripping her shovel, “Ship moves, coal moves. Coal rubs together, gets hot, and suddenly you get ya’self some hot coals. Used to be on a tramp steamer that had ‘em  _ all _ the time!”

 

“So nothing to worry about?” Ruby asked as Jasper shovelled the coal into the blazing furnace.

 

“Only if your a  _ sissy _ or something,” Jasper laughed, “But you’re no milksop, are ya Rubes?”

 

“Uh…” Ruby started to say, before being interrupted by the voice of a small boy directly behind her.

 

“Hey, do you know the way out of here?” he asked, wearing a suit and shirt that looked almost straight out of First Class.

 

“Uhh…” Ruby trailed off, not knowing what to say.

 

“What the Hell?” Jasper asked, turning to see the boy, who was then joined by a young girl about the same age.

 

“Hey Steven! There’s a hallway down here!” she called out over the sound of the boilers.

 

“Oi!” Barrett called out from the other end of the room, “You’re not allowed down here!”

 

“Bye!” the boy waved as he and the girl ran off.

 

Steven and Connie scurried around the starboard boilers and into the Fireman’s Passage, a long corridor leading forward through the next two compartments. It was fairly narrow, with just enough space for two men to pass each other, but to Steven and Connie it was like a long, yellowy cavern.

 

The two stood in awe for a moment, before Connie suddenly shouted, “Race ya!’ and bolted down the passageway.

 

“Hey, no fair! That was a headstart!” Steven called out as he ran after her, straining to catch up.

 

“You snooze, you lose!” she joked as she reached the end of the passage, her hands shooting into the air in victory.

 

Steven, significantly less adept at running, could only jog to the mock finish-line, crossing it whilst panting heavily.

 

“Where’d you learn to run so fast?” he asked, catching his breath.

 

“School. You never had to do drills in school?”

 

Steven, looking back at his years of homeschooling with Pearl, stammered, “Uh, yeeeeeah. I was just... bad.”

 

“Oh-kay…” Connie shrugged as she opened the door into the Fireman’s Staircase, a narrow set of spiral stairs running up to the stokers’ quarters.

 

“I bet this leads back up top,” Connie remarked, looking up the stairs.

 

“Uh…” Steven began, nervously looking along with her, “How high up is it?”

 

“Only one way to find out!” Connie egged on, heading up the stairs.

 

Steven looked back down the passageway, hesitating to go up with Connie, but relenting after a few seconds.

 

“Hey wait up!” he called out as he ascended the stairs after her, forcing his pudgy legs to move.

 

\---

 

Priyanka Maheswaran was not the worrying type. Of course, that was because she rarely had anything to worry about, what with her family’s fairly stable lifestyle, but today she was quickly becoming very worried.

 

“Doug, Amethyst said she’d be back with Connie around 1:30,” she said, pacing around their cabin, “It’s 2:17 now, and they’re still not back.”

 

“Pri,” Doug began, scratching the back of his head, “Maybe they just lost track of time.”

 

“Connie doesn’t lose track of time.”

 

“Right.”

 

“I’m going to go look for them,” Priyanka said, grabbing her coat.

 

“I’ll come too,” Doug replied, “We can check the front first and work our way back.”

 

“Good thinking,” Priyanka said, “I’ll leave a note in case they get back.”

 

\---

 

Reaching the top of the spiral staircase— over six stories up —even Connie was out of breath.

 

“I think…” she said as she helped Steven up the last step, “We made it…”

 

“I didn’t,” Steven mumbled as he collapsed onto the deck, breathing heavily, “I’m still at the bottom of the stairs, lying comatose on the floor.”

 

“You’re lying comatose on the floor now.”

 

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.”

 

The room that the staircase lead up into was fairly narrow, but also somewhat wide, with the Firemen’s Barracks to the front and their washrooms to the sides. There was a set of regular stairs on each side leading up, which caught Connie’s eye as she laid on the floor.

 

“C’mon,” she told Steven, nudging him, “We gotta get going or we’re gonna get caught.”

 

“Five more minutes…” Steven murmured, rolling over onto his back. Connie smirked and put her hands to his ear, putting them together in a loud clap.

 

“I’m up! I’m up!” Steven exclaimed, shooting straight up off the floor.

 

The pair went up the stairs and headed down into the Third Class Open Space, located just below the Well Deck. The room was fairly large, though extremely bare. There were wood benches bordering the room, with small tables and chairs placed in front of them and portholes up above, letting in the midday sunlight. In the center there were stairs leading down to the Third Class cabins, along with two metal grates for the cargo shafts in between.

 

At one of the tables there was a large, somewhat long-haired woman sitting and chatting with a small family— a husband, a wife, and two babies. The older one, about two years old, was sitting with the mother, while the younger one was being held by the large woman.

 

“Aw, and how old did you say she was?” the woman, Bismuth asked as she cradled the baby.

 

“Only nine weeks,” the husband, Bertram, replied.

 

Steven and Connie walked on over to the group (no one could resist the sight of a baby, after all) and said hello.

 

“What’s her name?” Connie asked.

 

“Millvina,” the wife, Georgette, answered.

 

“She’s cute,” Steven smiled. As Millvina was handed back over to Georgette, he felt an indistinct longing inside him, seeing a mother care for a child instead of handing them over to a nurse or a nanny. This was a  _ real _ family, with a father who was actually there and a mother who actually fed and watched over her child. He wanted  _ that _ . But… Where would that leave Pearl? He loved Pearl, and couldn’t imagine his life without her. Internally sighing, Steven waved goodbye to the family as they returned to their cabin, leaving him and Connie with Bismuth.

 

“So Bismuth,” Connie began, “what brings you on board Titanic? Emigrating?”

 

“Ah nah, I’m from there!” Bis replied, slapping her knee, “Was just seeing how those Irish folk like to build.”

 

“You can afford that?” Steven questioned, raising his eyebrow. In his head he was kicking himself for asking such a thing, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him.

 

“Well I’m gonna letcha in on a secret, little guy,” Bismuth said in a low voice, “I’m not actually supposed to be down here.”

 

“You’re from First?” Connie asked, her eyes widening.

 

“What? Oh no, no,” she laughed, “I’m from Second. But I never forgot my roots. That’s why I like to come down here. Nobody cares about the guys at the bottom. I wanna spread I got around a little, ya know?”

 

Bismuth spotted a steward passing by a beckoned, “Steward! One more round for everyone, on me!”

 

A few of the other passengers sitting nearby applauded, before returning to their drinks and/or conversations.

 

“I’d love to meet someone from First Class,” Connie mused, “It’s so beautiful up there, I bet the people are even  _ more _ breathtaking.”

 

“R-really?” Steven coughed, sweat rolling down his brow.

 

“Yeah, haven’t you ever wondered what goes on up there? Must be so exciting!”

 

“Uhh…”

 

“So where are you two headed?” Bismuth thankfully interrupted.

 

“My dad’s job’s moving him to Philadelphia,” Connie said.

 

“I’m—” was all Steven could say before being interrupted by an angry Priyanka Maheswaran.

 

“Connie!” she called out as she ran up the steps, “Connie, we were so worried!”

 

“I’m fine, mom,” Connie laughed as her mother rushed over and hugged her.

 

“You said you would be back with Amethyst almost an hour ago!”

 

“Hi Connie!” Doug interjected from behind.

 

“Hi Dad,” Connie smiled awkwardly.

 

“Hey, where is Amethyst anyway?” he asked, making her smile drop.

 

“She’s…” Connie began, looking over at Steven for some kind of reassurance, “Indisposed.”

 

Priyanka looked down at Connie’s clothes, now sweaty and sullied with soot stains.

 

“Look at you…” she sighed, examining the tattered bottom of Connie’s dress, “What on Earth were you doing?”

 

“I…”

 

“And who’s this?” she asked as Steven slowly hid behind Connie, the look on his face being both one of embarrassment and anxiousness.

 

“I…”

 

“And who are you?” she pointed over at Bismuth.

 

“Don’t look at me,” Bismuth shrugged, “I just met the two. But if you want my two cents…”

 

“We don’t, sorry,” Doug interrupted, letting his wife return to scolding duty.

 

“You can’t just run off whenever you want!” Priyanka admonished, “Especially with a boy you don’t know!”

 

“But-”

 

“We were worried sick! I bet  _ his _ parents are looking for him, too.”

 

Steven was about to say something, his mouth opening up in preparation, but he was cut off by a familiar, worry-struck voice.

 

_ “Steven!”  _ Pearl cried as she hurried up the stairs and over to her boy, “I was so concerned for your welfare!” She picked him up in a big hug.

 

“What are you doing down here in Third? You know it’s dangerous!”

 

“I know, I just…” Steven trailed off, feeling uncomfortable with the attention he was getting.

 

“Steven Universe Quartz,” Pearl began, in her usual gentle tone when reproaching Steven, “You can’t just go off like that when I’m not watching. You could have gotten lost.”

 

“I know…”

 

“Or hurt.”

 

“I know…”

 

“Or—”

 

“I know.”

 

As Steven and Pearl conversed, the Maheswarans and Bismuth found themselves putting pieces together that they didn’t expect to fit. Steven’s general awkwardness, his unfamiliarity with the Third Class areas of the ship, his caregiver’s rather expensive-looking wardrobe…

 

“Pardon me for asking,” Bismuth interrupted, “But what part of the ship are you two from?”

 

“Oh we’re—” Steven tried to say, hopelessly trying to keep his collapsing lie together.

 

“Why First, of course,” Pearl simply replied.

 

Connie’s eyes widened as her new friend shamefully hid behind Pearl’s legs, his eyes clamped shut.

 

“And you said his name was Quartz?” Doug inquired.

 

“Yes, what else would it be?”

 

“As in  _ Rose Quartz?”  _

 

“Well… yes,” Pearl shrugged, not realizing Steven had kept his origins a secret.

 

“Oh I’m so sorry,” Priyanka said sincerely, giving her condolences, “I read about it in the paper. She will be missed.”

 

“Thank you,” Pearl responded, bowing her head slightly.

 

Bismuth, who had never heard of Rose Quartz, found herself not following the conversation that followed (about jewelry or something) and instead found herself looking at Pearl. Once the Maheswarans began talking amongst themselves (though their daughter was strangely silent), Bismuth introduced herself.

 

“Bismuth, architecture extraordinaire, at your service!” Bismuth said, sticking out her arm.

 

“Ooh, an architect?” Pearl said in return, blushing across her face as she shook Bismuth’s hand, “What, erm, have you worked on?”

 

“Oh a bunch of places here and there. Ever heard of the Metro Life Tower?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Well you’re lookin’ at one of ‘er designers!”

 

“Oh my goodness,” Pearl blushed, “it must be so exciting!”

 

They talked for a few minutes more, about foundations and arches and flying buttresses, before Bismuth finally asked, “So are you doing anything tomorrow?” 

 

“Well, I, uh…”

 

“If you’re busy, it’s no problem,” Bismuth shrugged, “Was just hoping you could show me your areas of the ship. Second Class is kinda plain after a while, ya know?

 

“Well, I just have to put Steven to bed, but after that I’m all yours,” Pearl chuckled, “I mean, I’m not  _ all yours _ really, but I mean my time will become dedicated to– Wait, ‘dedicated’ isn’t the right word, I mean—”

 

“Nine o’clock tomorrow?”

 

“Yes, good,” Pearl confirmed, snapping back to reality.

 

“Well it’s been nice meeting you all,” Pearl said after recollecting herself, turning back to the Maheswarans, “Now I hope Steven didn’t cause  _ too _ much trouble.”

 

Connie’s parents both looked at each other, and back at their daughter and her friend, and decided to do some backtracking— Steven  _ was _ upper class, after all, so he probably couldn’t have gotten Connie into as much problems as they initially suspected. That, they figured, was Amethyst’s doing, wherever she was.

 

“Oh no,” Priyanka said, shaking her head, “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

“Well good,” Pearl nodded, taking Steven’s arm, “Now let’s go Steven, it’s almost mealtime.”

 

Steven found the strength to wave goodbye as Pearl pulled him away, but Connie’s head was turned.

 

“You must be starved,” his guardian continued, though her words fell upon practically-deaf ears.

 

Then, just before he and Pearl passed under the stairs, Connie looked his way. And it was not a look of friendship or farewell, but of betrayal.

 

Steven  _ was _ hungry, he realized, but he had lost his appetite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONTINUED! (mwahahaha)
> 
> And with that, this fic is now the longest fic I've ever written by word-count!
> 
> Historical Notes/Other Interesting Stuff: 
> 
> The E-Deck First Class cabins were the cheapest ones available, hence why Pearl holds them in low regard during her rant to Purser McElroy.
> 
> Also: Yes, I did just have Jasper casually debunk all the "DA COAL FIRE SUNK TITANIC" theories, because yes, her explanation is completely accurate as far as I've read; Coal fires weren't an unusual thing, there wasn't some roaring blaze but rather smoldering embers, and it didn't do anything to weaken the steel. (Sorry Senan Molony!) In other news: Brittle Steel is a myth, the WSL didn't cut corners by using iron, and going fast through an ice region was common practice so no one was negligent. *exhales* (No I am not dropping this :P)
> 
> The Metropolitan Life Tower, not to be confused with the MetLife building, was the tallest building in the world up until 1913. So it's no wonder Pearl would be impressed by Bismuth working on it.
> 
> Thomas Andrews, as described, was a member of the Guarantee Group, a set of experts from Harland & Wolff whose job it was to suggest improvements and ensure everything went as well as possible. None of them survived. He also was not as involved with the building of Titanic as is commonly believed, as he took over for Alexander Carlisle towards the end of the process. Still, he was a talented naval architect and a brilliant man nonetheless.


	17. Like A Waltz, But Not Quite

Normally during a shift change on Titanic, stokers and trimmers from the six boiler rooms would all herd towards the Fireman’s Passage up forward, with the spiral staircase leading up to their quarters several decks above. The boiler room crew were very segregated from the rest of the ship— the only routes down into the Tank Top were said spiral staircase and the escape ladders up to Scotland Road, with the latter’s purpose being for emergencies and former’s purpose being the sole way of reaching their barracks.

 

Well, there was one other way up top, known by the crew but seldom used due to the amount of climbing involved, except for a few intrepid crewmen looking for some fresh air. Ruby had heard about this way up, and was attempting to head for it upon the end of her shift.

 

“Hey shortstop!” Jasper called out as Ruby went against the crowd, “Where ya headed?”

 

The two friends moved over to the side of the boilers, away from the main foot traffic.

 

“Uh…” the short trimmer stammered, “I got a… important… meeting. To attend to?”

 

“A meeting?” Jasper pondered, her eyebrow rising, “What kind of meeting?”

 

“A...meeting meeting?”

 

“...Okay,” Jasper said, squinting in suspicion, “Have fun, then. I guess.”

 

“Oh, um, thanks! See ya later then, I guess.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, see ya,” Jasper grunted, turning away. Ruby subsequently rushed off towards the Engine Room, worrying that she was late for her “special rendezvous.”

 

Sneaking up past the reciprocating engines and the turbine engines, she found exactly what she was looking for in the form of a small metal stairwell heading up towards the large engine room fans in the ceiling. Climbing it for several decks, she passed the fan casing, where the stairs ended and a long,  _ long _ set of ladders began.

 

“The things I do for love,” Ruby said to herself, unironically and unsarcastically. She  _ would _ do anything for her love, after all.

 

\---

 

Sapphire was surprised, yet pleased, when she got a message delivered to her cabin telling her to be at the aft end of the Boat Deck promenade at midnight. She knew exactly who it was from (or rather, she had a pretty good idea of who it was from) and couldn’t have been more excited to see what her Ruby had in store for her.

 

Arriving at 12am shipboard-time (which was difficult considering the clocks were set back at that time as the ship continued west), Sapphire stepped past the gates separating First from Second and awaited her lover. Ruby arrived just a few minutes later, climbing out of a small hatchway on the side of the aftmost funnel.

 

“Hello there, Madam,” she remarked, folding her arms nonchalantly in case someone was watching.

 

“Why hello,” Sapphire giggled in response, “Out late tonight?”

 

“I was going to say the same to you.”

 

“That’s not an answer.”

 

“Aw, you caught me,” Ruby blushed.

 

“So are you doing anything special tonight?” Sapphire coyly asked.

 

“Well I  _ was _ hoping to show something beautiful to someone even more beautiful…”

 

“I could help with that…” Sapphire said, taking Ruby’s hand and smiling in the dim moonlight.

 

\---

 

Titanic’s fourth smokestack wasn’t actually needed, exactly, since it the ship wasn’t built for speed, but it contributed to the ship’s overall symmetry. Ships like Mauretania and Lusitania (the world record holders for the transatlantic run since 1909) used all four funnels, but as a result appeared very clustered. Titanic only really required three funnels to exhaust smoke from its boilers, but four funnels, frankly, looked better. And so the fourth funnel operated as both a means to circulate air out of the Engine Room, and a flue for the First & Second Class galley. 

 

At the top of the funnel, there was a small crew walkway circling around, originally for the painting gantries to be hung from during the ship’s fitting out back in Belfast. The forward half of the funnel was a semi-circular shaft extending down to the Engine Room, with a pipe sticking out in the middle for the ship’s galley. The aft half was just a flat, upraised platform at waist-height.

 

“Now close your eyes,” Ruby said as she and Sapphire reached the top of the ladder.

 

“I love you, but this better be good,” Sapphire said half-sarcastically.

 

“Hey now,” Ruby snarked, helping Sapphire up onto the walkway, “When have I ever steered you wrong?”

 

“Fair point, fair point,” Sapphire giggled.

 

Luckily Sapphire’s hair was tied up in a bun that night, since the wind at the top of the false smokestack was so fast it blew off her hat the second she stuck her head up.

 

“Oh my–!” Sapphire blurted out, her eyes shooting open as she turned to grab her hat, but stopped the moment she got a look at the view. They were over 60 feet up into the air, looking back down at the stern and the foamy trail left in the steamer’s wake. Up above them were the streams of billowing smoke from the other three funnels, high up enough due to the wind that people at the top of the fourth did not suffocate in the ash, though flakes of soot did come down on them occasionally. At this height, Ruby and Sapphire could see the entire horizon behind them, with the dark, black ocean below and the starry, constellation-filled sky.

 

“Oh my goodness,” Sapphire gasped, “It’s...amazing…”

 

“Not as amazing as you,” Ruby remarked, taking Sapphire’s hip and meeting the first class woman’s lips with her own. 

 

“When did you get so romantic?” Sapphire smiled, breaking the kiss.

 

“I read,” Ruby insisted, “Dorian Gray an’ all that.”

 

“You big softie…”

 

After a bit more kissing, Ruby climbed up onto the upraised platform. Sapphire hesitated, noticing the strong winds blowing past them. Ruby, standing on the platform with her steady sea-legs, wasn’t fazed by it, however.

 

“Ruby?”

 

“C’mon,” Ruby beckoned, “Trust me.”

 

Ruby gave one of those rare, special smiles, and Sapphire’s hesitation melted away, taking her lovers hand in a heartbeat. Sapphire was helped up onto the platform, gripping Ruby close against the wind.

 

“Don’t worry,” Ruby reassured her, “I gotcha.”

 

The pair eventually eased their stances on the platform, loosening their grip but still holding each other’s hands. Sapphire moved her hand to Ruby’s hip and began swaying slightly back and forth.

 

“W-what are you doing?” Ruby stammered.

 

“Well sailor,” Sapphire said, raising Ruby’s hand up into the air with her own, “I would think you’d at least know what dancing looks like.”

 

Ruby and Sapphire gave each other a big goofy grin as the pair began to move around the platform, Sapphire taking the lead. It was a simple dance, just the two lovers moving in harmony with each other. Feeling daring, Sapphire dipped Ruby over the ventilation shaft, making the young coal-jockey sweat more than usual.

 

“Ah!” Ruby yelped before her love pulled her back from the edge. Sapphire couldn’t help but laugh as the dance continued.

 

“Don’t you  _ ever _ do that again,” Ruby told her, laughing a little herself.

 

“Okay, okay, I promise,” Sapphire replied, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t do this!”

 

Sapphire then swung Ruby around in a twirl, before stretching themselves outward and returning back to a close embrace.

 

“You’re terrible,” Ruby laughed.

 

“So are you,” Sapphire kidded, kissing her love on the cheek.

 

As the couple continued to dance about the platform, they almost,  _ almost _ thought that, amongst the humming of the engines, the billowing of the wind, and the churning of the sea, they could hear music. More thundrous than any symphony, more elegant that any sonata, more exciting than any ragtime tune, it was as though everything that night had been made specially for them.

 

It was almost like a waltz, but not quite.

 

\---

 

When the pair eventually tired, they climbed back down to the crew walkway and took to leaning over the railing, to admire both the view and each other’s company. 

 

“And what’s that?” Sapphire asked, pointing at the stars to the north (Titanic’s left and their right, as the ship was travelling west and the couple was pointed astern, or east).

 

“That,” Ruby said, squinting to make out the constellation, “is  _ Cassiopeia _ .” Said constellation was made up of four stars, in a zig-zag formation, vaguely resembling the crown of the Greek Queen that was its namesake. Unfortunately most of the good stars were blocked by the smoke billowing overhead, but they made do.

 

“And the one sticking out right there?” Sapphire asked, pointing to two bright stars just above the horizon.

 

_ ”Auriga _ … and  _ Capella, _ I believe.”

 

Sapphire then turned directly aft, 

 

“And what about those stars?”

 

“That’s…  _ Pegasus, _ I wanna say,” Ruby said, pointing to a horse-shaped batch of stars to the east, “And  _ Andromeda _ should be in there somewhere.”

 

“I thought you said that you knew the sky like the back of your hand,” Sapphire teased at Ruby’s uncertainty.

 

“Hey, all I’m sayin’ is that if we’re lost in the middle of ocean, I know how to get places,” Ruby insisted, “That doesn’t mean I know how to do it well.”

 

“Well, whether you know the stars or not,” Sapphire said, “I would love to be lost at sea with you.”

 

“So would I,” Ruby agreed, snuggling closer to her better half. They stood there for a few, warm seconds, enjoying each other’s embrace.

 

“What’s that one?” Sapphire interrupted, pointing to a bright point of light to the south.

 

“Jupiter, I think? I dunno, planets were never my strong suit.”

 

“Well then, how about those?” Sapphire asked, pointing the patch of stars near it.

 

“Scorpius, I think. And that’s Libra, next to it, along with Sagittarius sticking out right over there. Now those I know by heart.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

Ruby paused, blushing slightly in the night.

 

“Cause those were up when we first met,” she said, wistfully looking up at the smoke overhead.

 

Sapphire took Ruby’s chin and locked eyes with her, blushing as well. Before they knew it, they were also locking lips, for what felt like a blissful eternity when in reality it was less than a minute.

 

“Ruby,” Sapphire said, breaking the kiss.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been taking an Astronomy class. The constellations are accurate to April 11-12, 1912 in the middle of the Atlantic, so Neil DeGrasse Tyson can’t say shit xD
> 
> The space atop the fourth funnel did indeed exist, and there are pictures of crewmen hanging out up there on the Olympic. I had to infer a few things about it from diagrams and construction photographs, but I think I got it right.
> 
> Also, yes, Ruby did read Oscar Wilde :P


	18. Reconciliation

_ On Board The RMS Titanic _

_ April 12, 1912 _

 

Amethyst still hadn’t come back by the time Connie woke the next morning. While they didn’t say it aloud, she knew her parents’ attitude was at least along the lines of “good riddance.” Sure, she’d probably passed out in the champagne cooler and left her and Steven to fend for themselves, but it wasn’t like they were in  _ that _ much danger. They could get around by themselves.

 

After a fairly quiet breakfast, Connie and her parents went out onto the Poop Deck and looked out at the view, as the sun rose behind the massive liner. A blue naval ensign flew from the flagpole farthest aft (normally red, but blue on Titanic on account of Captain Smith being a retired naval commander). Red signs reading “NOTICE: This Vessel Has Triple Screws - Keep Clear of Blades” were placed on the outer edges of the rails, for boats approaching the ship from behind. The Maheswarans sat down on one of the benches along the sides, just forward of the ship’s Docking Bridge, a special platform upraised at the center of the deck.

 

Connie leaned against the railing, lost in her thoughts. She had gotten along so well with Steven from the moment they first met, even if their time together was merely a couple hours. One could say he made quite an impression on her. During all of it, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she saw him somewhere before. Then the truth came out. That Steven had lied about being from Third Class and was instead the son of the famous Rose Quartz, recently deceased owner of the world’s fifth-largest jewel fortune. 

 

She knew where she had seen him before; in a newspaper photograph, alongside the headline,  _ “ROSE QUARTZ DEAD - SOLE HEIR TO EMIGRATE TO AMERICA.”  _ It was a depressing image, showing the boy at his mother’s funeral, all dressed in black. She didn’t know why she remembered the story at all— maybe her father left it on the table some months back and she happened to catch a glance —but the image stuck with her subconscious, looking like someone who was all alone in a crushing, uncaring world. Someone who needed a friend. Perhaps...

 

“You okay there, kiddo?” Doug asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Yeah…” she murmured, stepping back from the railing, “I’m good.”

 

“Well ‘good’ isn’t going to cut it,” Doug said in a mockingly-tough tone.

 

“What?”

 

“We need you at ‘excellent’ at the very least!” he exclaimed with a goofy smile on his face, picking his daughter up and twirling her around.

 

“Dad!” Connie laughed as she spun in circles, “Stop it!”

 

“How are you feeling?” he asked teasingly, looking for a specific answer.

 

“Excellent! Excellent!”

 

Priyanka found herself laughing as well as Doug put the now-dizzy Connie down, the girl now thoroughly cheered-up.

 

“Feeling better?” Priyanka asked, walking towards the two.

 

“Yeah,” Connie giggled, “Yeah, much better.”

 

“But seriously,” Doug added, taking on a more fatherly tone, “Is there anything wrong?”

 

“Well…”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s just…”

 

“What is it?”

 

Connie found herself looking up past her father’s shoulders, back towards the A-Deck Promenade. Steven was there, wistfully looking out at the rising sun. He didn’t notice her, and she could barely make him out from the distance, but she knew it was him. Doug and Priyanka could tell it was him as well, and gave each other a look as to what to do. Connie  _ had  _ proven that she could get around the ship just fine without them, and Steven seemed to not be the troublemaking type… Plus, there was his guardian, who appeared to be very trustworthy, especially considering who she was guardian  _ of _ . However, before they could make their decision, Connie made it for them, bolting down the stairs and across the Well Deck.

 

The Maheswarans simply stood dumbfounded, with Doug chuckling and Priyanka letting out a sigh. 

 

\---

 

Steven felt awful. He didn’t get much sleep, nor did he eat much at breakfast. Pearl had been worried, but had gotten into quite the discussion with Lapis and Sapphire at their table about the finer points of English interior design or whatever, distracting her from his plight. Steven of course wanted to join in, but kept thinking about Connie, even upon stepping out onto the aft promenade for some fresh air. He sat at the railing for the longest time, disappointed at himself for lying to her. 

 

_ Stupid, stupid Steven,  _ the little voice in his head told him,  _ why can’t you do anything right?! You finally meet someone your age and you have to ruin it by lying to her! _

 

His self-deprecation was interrupted by a familiar voice directly behind him.

 

“Top of the morning to you, Mr. Quartz,” Connie greeted him politely, hands behind her back, “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

 

“I, uh, um, hello,” Steven stammered, “What- Why- How... are you? Doing? Today?”

 

An awkward silence followed, before Steven shook his head and tried to apologize.

 

“Connie, I’m really sorry about yesterday.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” she asked him point-blank.

 

Steven sighed and looked out at the horizon, the sun rising steadfastly into the sky.

 

“Because… I didn't think you would have been friends with me…”

 

Connie could see the pain in the boy’s eyes, sensing the immense guilt he must have been feeling.

 

“Look,” she said, grabbing the boy’s attention, “I forgive you.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Water under the bridge,” the young girl reassured him.

 

“Thanks…” Steven replied, relieved, “But I think it’s ‘water  _ over _ the bridge.’”

 

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s ‘under.’”

 

“Pearl!” Steven shouted across the deck, “Is it ‘water over the bridge’ or ‘under the bridge’?!”

 

“Under!” Pearl called out, her conversation with Lapis and Sapphire interrupted.

 

“Told you,” Connie giggled, a smug smile appearing on her face. Pearl, Sapphire and Lapis then approached the pair, the latter two having not met Connie yet.

 

“Well it’s good to see you two together again,” Pearl commented, “Lapis, Sapphire, this is Connie Maheswaran, a friend of Steven’s.”

 

“Pleased to meet you,” Sapphire greeted, shaking the young girl’s hand, “I’m Sapphire.”

 

“Lapis,” Lapis introduced herself, “Lapis Lazuli.”

 

“So what brings you up to our part of the ship?” Pearl asked.

 

“Well…” Connie started to say before Steven interrupted her.

 

“I was thinking we could hang around the lounge,” Steven suggested, “There’s, uh, lots of books in there so...”

 

Connie’s eyes practically lit up at the mention of books.

 

_ “I’dLoveToLet’sGo,”  _ Connie blurted out, blushing slightly.

 

“Why, that’s a splendid idea!” Pearl exclaimed, “And we can even have mid-morning tea!”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Lapis agreed, averting her eyes from the ocean, “I need to...keep my mind off things…”

 

Sapphire simply nodded, opting to not say anything.

 

Steven smiled a great big grin and took Connie’s hand, excited beyond belief. Connie found herself even more excited as a result, as Steven’s happiness turned out to be contagious.

 

\---

 

Connie sat in the First Class Lounge, amazed by the spectacularly-decorated room and the vast amount of books at her disposal. On the small table in front of her, she had over two dozen books, one stack for books she had yet to read, another for books she had enjoyed but was saving for later. Each one was leather-bound, with the words “White Star Line” on their spines.

 

Steven was nearby, skimming through a particularly uninteresting little novel. He shook his head and closed it, instead decided to see how his new friend was doing.

 

“Hey Connie, how’re the books?” Steven asked.

 

_ “I’m in heaven…”  _ Connie muttered, looking up from her book.

 

“What?”

 

“Oh! Uh, they’re good, they’re… good.”

 

“What’s that one about?” Steven asked, curious.

 

“This one’s about a duke travelling incognito to find true love in the world,” Connie described, “But once he finds it, he doesn’t know whether to tell them his true identity or not…”

 

“Wow, that sounds cool,” Steven said, “How about that one?”

 

“This,” Connie remarked, holding up a well-worn book from the stack, “is  _ Oliver Twist. _ Ever read it?”

 

“No, I don’t think Pearl ever assigned that one.”

 

“Aw, it’s great! There’s this kid named Oliver, who’s in this awful orphanage in England, and he runs away to London and meets this band of thieves, and then there’s this guy named Mr. Brownlow who’s all nice and  _ agh _ it’s so good!”

 

“I’ll have to read it some time,” Steven said with a smile.

 

As the two kids went on with their conversation, Lapis, Sapphire and Pearl sat by the fireplace— which wasn’t really a fireplace as it was never lit —gossiping about all matters of things.

 

“And did you hear about Mr. Guggenheim?” Pearl asked in a hushed voice.

 

“Who?” Lapis asked, having not kept up with current events.

 

“The American businessman,” Sapphire tried to answer, realizing soon after that said description made up most of the prominent first class men.

 

“That doesn’t help me at all.”

 

_ “Anyway,”  _ Pearl continued, “Did you notice who he was with a dinner?”

 

“His wife?” Lapis suggested, not really thinking about it.

 

“His  _ mistress,”  _ Sapphire answered, earning a nod from Pearl, “His wife is at home with the children.”

 

“That’s awful!” Lapis blurted out, quickly lowering her voice.

 

“And don’t get me started about the Astors…” Pearl muttered, sipping her tea.

 

“What about them?” Lapis asked.

 

Pearl sighed, putting down her tea. 

 

“Well in this case I’m not that privy to the details, but… Have you noticed how  _ young _ Mrs. Astor is?”

 

“No…” Lapis trailed off, unsure of where this was going.

 

“Only nineteen,” Sapphire replied, sipping her tea as well, “I feel so sorry for Madeline. She didn’t ask for this life.”

 

“And he’s what, forty-eight?” Pearl remarked, “They’ve been married for seven months and she’s already seven months expecting. And they call that justice!”

 

“And they call that justice...” Lapis sighed, looking at herself in the mirror over the mantlepiece. What kind of world was she stepping back into?

 

\---

 

“Now what’s this one?” Steven asked, flipping through another book in Connie’s stack.

 

“I think that’s a guide to English cathedrals or something.”

 

“Ooh, Pearl would love that!” Steven exclaimed, making the girl chuckle a little.

 

“Okay, Mr. Twenty-Questions,” Connie began, “Now that you’ve asked me it’s  _ my  _ turn. What were you reading over there?”

 

“Oh, that’s one’s pretty boring, to be honest,” Steven remarked, holding the orange novella in his hands.

 

“What’s it called?”

 

_“Futility,”_ Steven shrugged.

 

The pair went on talking and giggling amongst each other the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon, as Pearl looked on and smiled. Steven and Connie were good for each other, she thought.

 

They almost seemed inseparable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What, did you think I'd have the gall to break up Connverse? :P
> 
> If you didn't recognize the repetition of "And they call that justice," then you clearly have not heard the amazingness that is Titanic: The Musical, which I actually highly recommend. But yeah, our millionaires of 1912 weren't exactly moral paragons.
> 
> Information on the book selection on board Titanic comes once again from Titanic Channel ("a duke travelling incognito to find true love in the world" is almost a direct quote from Bill Sauder, describing contemporary 1910s literature)
> 
> And of course, "Futility," later named "The Wreck of the Titan," is the infamous 1898 novella about the fictional ship Titan, which hits an iceberg 400 miles off of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic, along the starboard side, and suffers a lifeboat shortage due to lax shipping regulations. Sound familiar?


	19. The Hangover

Amethyst woke up with a massive headache. Opening her eyes (which really did not want to be opened), she found herself surrounded by canvas cushions, propped up in the corner of a 3-by-5 room. She was in Titanic’s padded room.

 

“Well this is certainly familiar…” she groaned, forcing herself to stand.

 

The lightbulb above her, combined with the light leaking in through the circular vent over the door, stung her eyes every moment they were open.

 

_ “Shit,”  _ she thought,  _ “When did I become such a lightweight? It was friggin’  _ champagne!”

 

She approached the door and, after giving the door a quick tug to no avail, pulled out a hairpin and made quick work of the lock.

 

“Just like robbing the  _ Spuerkeess,” _ Amethyst quietly joked to herself as she cracked the door open to peek. Unfortunately for her, however, the Master-at-Arms, Mr. Henry Bailey, was standing just down the hall. He was leaning against the bulkhead, reading a day-old newspaper in the light of the porthole.

 

“Bloody home rule,” Bailey muttered to himself as he flipped the page.

 

Amethyst reached into her pocket and took out some loose change (she wouldn’t be needing Francs anymore, after all), throwing them across the hall and quickly shutting the door.

 

“Hello?” Bailey called out, putting his paper down and heading down the hall to investigate.

 

Just as the man rounded the corner, Amethyst quietly opened the door and made a break for it up the stairs. She went through the door out into the Second Class enclosed promenade, shooting her fists into the air in victory. Of course, the morning light shining in through the windows hurt her eyes like crazy, but that would go away eventually, she figured. Riding that high, she ran out onto the Well Deck and down the Third Class stairwell, finally reaching her and the Maheswarans’ cabin.

 

“He-llooo Maheswaran fam-” Amethyst began to say, before seeing that the two parents were looking at her disapprovingly, “-ly.”

 

“...Ho boy,” she muttered, bracing herself for a scolding.

 

\---

 

So apparently, leaving two kids alone in the underbelly of a ship while you hide yourself away in a champagne closet to get blackout drunk was not the best idea. Particularly, it’s not the best idea if you would like to retain a good relationship with the parents of said kids, especially if you would like to remain living in the same cabin as them. Amethyst learned this the hard way.

 

Amethyst, sneaking back up to the Second Class promenade, leaned against the lifeboats sitting on deck and glumly watched the midday sun move across the sky.

 

“Stupid Maheswarans with their stupid rules and stupid morals and stupid ‘concern for their child,’” Amethyst grumbled to herself, “Now you can’t talk to Connie anymore ‘cause you’re a ‘bad role model’ and ‘irresponsible’ and ‘scum of this Earth...’ Okay, they didn’t say that, but that’s what it felt like...”

 

“Hey Peri!” she heard a voice call out behind her, “You in for cards or what?”

 

Turning her head around, Amethyst saw Peri standing out on the nearby Engineer’s Promenade, with a fellow Engineer calling out to her from the deckhouse.

 

“Oh right!” she exclaimed, rushing inside.

 

Amethyst, snapping out of her self-loathing, got an idea. An awful idea. A  _ wonderful, _ awful idea.

 

\---

 

The Engineer’s Smoke Room was a fairly small room, all things considered, but it was large enough. In the center, there was a round table with three chairs around it, plus a couch against the back wall. To the left, there was another couch along two upholstered seats, and to the right there were a set of cabinets just below the windows. Around the center table, Peri sat down with three of her fellow Junior Assistant Engineers— Henry “Renny” Dodds, James Fraser and Herbert Harvey —as they prepared for a game of cards.

 

“Wanna smoke?” Renny asked, holding up his cigarette carton.

 

“Ah, no,” Peri said as she shook her head, “Unfortunately I cannot hold my nicotine. You may smoke all you wish though.”

 

“With pleasure,” James nodded, lighting a cig.

 

A steward— one with an unusually big mustache —then entered the room, holding a tray of drinks.

 

“Ah,  _ hallo _ , Misters  _ und _ Mademoiselle Engineer,” the steward (whose accent Peri could not for the life of her place) said, “Care for a  _ trink  _ of  _ vadder _ ?”

 

Each of the engineers nodded, and the steward (whose uniform seemed to be for a much taller and skinnier person, which Peri found odd) somewhat haphazardly placed the waters on the table.

 

“Um, steward?” 

 

“What doth thou hearteth desire-eth?” the steward asked, spilling some of the drinks slightly but also completely changing his accent.

 

“Hey, let’s start the game already!” Herbert laughed, taking a sip of his water.

 

“I-I’ll have a water,” Peri sighed, keeping her wonderings about the strangely-busty, long-haired steward to herself.

 

“Alright, here’s an old favorite,” James said as he shuffled the deck, “Old Maid.”

 

A roll of knowing groans came from the other two male engineers, while Peri sat there, confused.

 

“I always lose at Old Maid!” Renny complained, slouched back against his chair.

 

“I know,” James chuckled.

 

“Which is why we always play it,” Herbert commented, smirking.

 

“Hey,” James defended, “It’s not my fault I keep winning the coin toss.”

 

“I still say that’s a weighted coin,” Renny accused, half-jokingly.

 

“Alright, alright,” Peri cut in, “Let’s begin this ‘Old Maid.’ Now, how do you play?”

 

Everyone— including the still-in-the-room-for-some-reason steward —groaned.

 

\---

 

“More  _ vadder _ Madam?” the steward asked in what seemed like his tenth trip around the room in the past couple minutes.

 

“No thank you,” Peri said, returning her attention to her cards. She placed took two eights from her hand and placed it face-up with the other pairs. For a moment, Peri could have swore that the steward’s mustache was slipping.

 

“Two Kings,” Renny said, as the four of them took turns placing their pairs in the center.

 

“Two Twos,” Herbert continued.

 

“Two Aces,” James said, finishing the first round, which involved discarding any pairs from each player’s hand.

 

Then, the four began offering each other cards face-down from their hands, going around the table with the goal of discarding all the pairs until the last, unpairable card in the odd-numbered deck was found (the holder of which would be declared the loser). As the game went on, the cards in each hand dwindled to just a few, with most of the pairs gone. The shorter-than-most-stewards steward had returned, refilling everyone’s drinks.

 

“Renny has the only Joker, hot-stuff,” the steward whispered into Peri’s ear.

 

Peri’s eyes widened as she realized who the steward was, as “his” accent slipped away within the whisper. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the mustache finally fall to the table, revealing the steward to really be...

 

_ “Amethyst?!”  _ Peri exclaimed as the men in the room gasped.

 

“Whoopsie, gotta go!” Amethyst shrugged, dropping the waters and bolting out of the room.

 

Spotting a steward eyeing her from the other side of the fence, Amethyst quickly searched for an escape route. She decided on a door right next to the Engineer’s Smoke Room, ducking inside before anyone went after her. The room she hid in was one of the tank rooms, where the ship’s water supply was stored when not in use. There was a hatchway leading down a set of ladders into the Engine Room, which Amethyst happily climbed into. Looking into the shaft that went over seven stories down, Amethyst shrugged, since she didn’t exactly have anywhere to be at that moment.

 

“Going down,” she chuckled to herself.

 

\---

 

Peri returned to her shift down in the Engine Room, beginning her nightly inspection. According to her, the best part about being a Junior Assistant Engineer (other than being around such marvelous engines and learning from only the very best) was that it gave her plenty of time to herself. As she checked the upper mechanisms of the reciprocating engines, Peri found herself thinking back to the card game earlier in the day. What on Earth was Amethyst thinking, dressing up like a steward? Heck, what was she even there for? Didn’t she have anything better to do than harass crewmembers on their time off? Although, while whispering in her ear was certainly cheating, the fact that Amethyst  _ did _ want to help her win was admittedly noble to a degree. It almost made her blush. Peri’s musings were interrupted by Amethyst hanging upside down from an overhead beam.

 

“Gah!” Peri exclaimed, stepping back in surprise.

 

“Hey, whatcha thinkin’ about, dollface?”

 

“Why do you keep inserting yourself into my life?” Peri asked in a harsh whisper.

 

“Cause you’re smart,” Amethyst shrugged, hopping down off the beam, “And kinda good-lookin’ if I do say so myself.”

 

Peri was not used to what was colloquially known as “flirting,” and as a result was at a loss as to what to do. Still, she figured she should try her best, which apparently first involved a  _ lot  _ of involuntary blushing. Also stammering.

 

“I, uh, um, uh… Thank you.”

 

“So,” Amethyst said, leaning against the railing, “Any plans tonight?”

 

Peri thought about her so-called plans for the evening, which more or less amounted to sitting alone in her quarters, reading some old issues of  _ The Shipbuilder _ she’d been meaning to get to. Her roommate, the Extra Sixth Engineer, had an opposing shift to hers so she was lucky enough to have the luxury of alone time. But then she realized that explaining all that would be stupid, and simplified it for Amethyst.

 

“Oh, erm, nothing. Nothing at all.”

 

“Well then, how about you and I have a little night on the town…”

 

“But we are hundreds of miles from any town.”

 

“C’mon, I know a guy who can get us some free booze.”

 

“Nope, nuh-uh,” Peri said, waving her hands in refusal, “Ship employees are  _ not _ allowed to drink alcoholic beverages whilst on board. That is a  _ strict _ White Star Line policy that  _ every  _ crew member upholds to the highest of standards!”

 

\---

 

“Amethyst!” Chief Baker Charles Joughin exclaimed at his cabin door, hugging the small woman. Peri was standing behind her in the corridor, utterly bewildered. 

 

“Hey Chuck, long time, no see,” Amethyst said as she was let go, “How’s Louise? Now if there’s anyone who has a secret stache of booze on this tub, it’s you.”

 

“Please,” Joughin chuckled, “what kind of fool do you take me for?”

 

Amethyst gave him a knowing look, making the baker sigh.

 

“I have  _ one  _ bottle of scotch. An’ that’s just for me end-of-the-day relaxations.”

 

“Well I’ll give you…” Amethyst said as she fumbled around in her pockets, “Three half-chewed buttons for two shots of the stuff, one for me and one for my friendo over there.”

 

Peri awkwardly waved.

 

“Ah, nah it’s on the house,” Joughin laughed as he led the two in and shut the door.

 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Peri said as Joughin poured them their drinks.

 

About five minutes later, Peri was one shot of scotch down and completely inebriated.

 

“Heeeyyy there Amethyst!” Peri said, a goofy smile appearing on her face, “You-  _ You’re _ lookin’ goooooood…”

 

“Damn, she  _ is _ a lightweight,” Amethyst remarked, “Actually I think this is her first time… Whoops.”

 

“You sure you’ll be able to handle...that?” Joughin asked as Peri danced around the room, excited by the littlest of things.

 

“THIS BED HAS SHEETS ON IT!” she giggled.

 

“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” Amethyst said, taking her shot and giving a burp, “Thanks, by the way.”   
  


“Anytime, Ames, anytime,” the baker smiled as Amethyst escorted Peri back into the hall.

 

“Byyyyye!” Peri waved.

 

“Buh-bye,” Joughin chuckled, laying back in his bed. That Amethyst was something else.

 

\---

 

Since it was now past the end of Peri’s shift and well into the evening, Amethyst took Peri out on the Poop Deck (her most favorite of all decks) to look at the starry sky.

 

“Heh, poop deck,” Peri tipsily laughed, “It’s funny because it’s another word for— Hey, look at the stars!”

 

Amethyst, amused by the young engineer and still a bit intoxicated herself, followed Peri to the aft railing.

 

“So,” Peri began, her head leaning to one side, “how’s life?” 

 

Amethyst chuckled. “It’s good, it’s good. Well, now it is, since I’m with you, heh.”

 

“Really?” Peri blushed, “That’s, uh, nice…”

 

Peri found herself moving closer to Amethyst, letting her nervousness float away with the alcohol. She felt a real attraction to her, unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Was this how most people felt? Peri hesitantly began to speak.

 

“Do you really think I’m...cute?” she asked, averting her eyes.

 

Amethyst smiled, and moved even closer to Peri, quickly closing the gap between the two.

 

“Does this answer your question?” she asked, pulling Peri’s lips to hers. 

 

After a good few seconds of kissing, Amethyst pulled back and opened her eyes, seeing a big goofy grin on Peri’s face, stars almost appearing in her eyes.

 

“...Yes.”

 

\---

 

“So I was staying at this place on Sidney Street, right?” Amethyst went on as she and Peri strolled down the Aft Well Deck, “When these two guys show up and start staying there, ya know?”

 

“Uh huh…”

 

“And I was only supposed to be there for a few days past the New Year, ‘cause that’s when I figured the landlord would stop taking my fake money and I’d find some other sucker to squat with.”

 

“Well of course,” Peri chuckled.

 

“Then on January 3rd I wake up to these gunshots and I’m, like, ‘What the Hell?!’ and I look out the window and it’s like a whole army outside!”

 

_ “Wait,” _ Peri began, laughing, “You’re great, but you were  _ not _ at the Siege of Sidney Street.”

 

“Is that what they’re calling it?” Amethyst shrugged, “Anyway, I got out there like a Bat-Outta-Hell, and I’m running out with my hands up past all the guards, and then this dude in a top hat ended up in front of me and, well… I got surprised!”

 

“What’d you do?” Peri asked, half-scolding, half-amused.

 

“I...kinda...punched him.”

 

_ “You punched Winston Churchill?!” _

 

“Is he someone I should know? Explains why he was so worked up about it…”

 

Peri then started laughing hysterically, which in turn put a great big smile on Amethyst’s face. The two laughed and talked all night, about all sorts of things— from Peri’s secret admiration of the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, to Amethyst’s winning of a mashed potato eating contest back home in Kentucky. Eventually, they ended up in Peri’s cabin, which, thankfully for them, was empty.

 

As they began to drift away to sleep in Peri’s bunk at the end of the night, Amethyst sensed the pain of being kicked out by Connie’s parents fade away, feeling nothing but happiness with where she was now.

 

And while neither said anything, Peri concurred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some Amedot for Christmas. Don't worry, it's on me :P
> 
> NOTES!
> 
> \- On the note of the Masters-At-Arms, Henry Bailey was one of two such officers on Titanic, who were basically what we'd think of as security guards, and would deal with troublemakers and the like. This includes Amethyst. (Also, troublemakers like Amethyst, if not confined to their cabin, would likely have been put in the padded room, unlike in the Cameron movie where Jack is handcuffed to a pipe in the Masters-At-Arms cabin)
> 
> \- "Robbing the Spuerkeess" refers to the national bank of Luxembourg, founded in 1856 and known in French as "Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État." And of course Amethyst was able to rob it. She good like that.
> 
> \- Like before, much of the information on Peri's engineer friends comes from the good people at Encyclopedia Titanica, where you can find detailed biographies on every crewmember and passenger. An irreplaceable resource.
> 
> \- As you may already know, Chief Baker Charles Joughin infamously snuck some alcohol into his cabin, and openly stated that he drank during the sinking. However, I did try to stay accurate to the actual amount/type of booze he actually had, since he insisted afterwards that he only had a couple drinks and was not outright intoxicated, unlike what we see in A Night To Remember (phenomenal movie, btw). I also like the idea that he's good friends with Amethyst; no idea how they met, but it works lol
> 
> \- Super special thanks to my super special friend E350tb, who has not only drawn super-cute fanart for this fic of Steven & Connie ([HERE](http://e350tb.tumblr.com/post/180420386036/a-christmas-gift-for-captainjzh-of-steven-and)), suggested the Siege of Sidney Street as one of Amethyst's stories (it's a very interesting event, if you're curious) but also started writing the amazing and wonderful ["Unauthorised Tales From The Titanic"](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1217814) series which covers characters outside of the mains featured here (like Eyeball, Doc, Sadie, Lars, etc.) being on the Titanic as well. The title is a bit of a misnomer as it is 100% authorized (XD) and as far as I'm concerned it's Second Tier Canon to EITWWSS, at the very least. It's just that good. He's a really awesome person, and I highly recommend his work :D


	20. Getting Down To Bismuth

_ Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States _

_ December 31, 1897 _

 

“C’mon Pearl! We’re going to miss the train!”

 

Rose sat in the back of the carriage, shaking impatiently. She wore the most stunning silver/pink dress, as Pearl, her Lady’s Maid (who was also filling in for her coachman on short notice), inspected the two horses drawing the carriage, both of which had collapsed in the cold.

 

“My Lady, I am ill-equipped to deal with such a matter, but I shall try my best.”

 

“Pearl, no one’s here; you know you can call me Rose.”

 

Pearl blushed as snow fell on the beaten path. Rose had been in Delaware that December for some sort of charity fundraiser, but had booked tickets on the train to Philadelphia in hopes to see the New Years celebration before returning to England.

 

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas, and had frozen several of the roads over with ice, not to mention tiring out their horses that turned out to be, well, less than healthful. Pearl returned to the carriage, with some bad news.

 

“Are the horses okay?” Rose asked, “Are they dying?!”

 

“My Lady— I mean, Rose, I simply do not know. If you will pardon my bluntness, I am a Lady’s Maid, not a horse doctor.”

 

“Bluntness pardoned and appreciated,” Rose sighed. She was really hoping to see Philadelphia on New Years. The inside of the carriage was thankfully warm, though Rose worried how long that would last in such weather.

 

Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door, opening it to find a young, clean-cut man with fairly-long hair standing outside. Pearl could see Rose’s eyebrows rise at the sight of the man, herself feeling a pang of jealousy, no matter how irrational it seemed.

 

“I was heading down to the boardwalk to see the fireworks,” he began, “but I couldn’t help but notice your horses were taking a snow-nap over there. If you need a ride into town, I’d be happy to hitch my horse to your carriage and take you both in.”

 

“Why, thank you,” Rose giggled before introducing herself, “Rose Quartz. And you are?”

 

“Gregory Universe, at your service, Madame Quartz,” he said, giving a bow.

 

\---

 

_ Fourteen Years Later... _

 

“Good night, Steven,” Pearl said as she closed the adjoining door to Steven’s cabin.

 

“G’night, Pearl…” Steven sleepily replied, comfortably tucked in.

 

A knock then came at the door. Pearl figured it must be the steward, whom she had instructed to check up on Steven every half-hour (she had originally suggested every  _ ten _ minutes, then twenty, but eventually conceded at thirty). But when she got to the door, she was greeted by someone else she had been expecting to see that night, though certainly not at her cabin.

 

“Bismuth!” Pearl said, pleasantly surprised, immediately quieting her voice with an embarrassed chuckle, “Sorry, I just put Steven to bed.”

 

“Nah, I get it,” Bismuth said, quieting her voice as well, “Now how about we skidaddle and I show you a good time tonight?”

 

“Well I, uh, well, um, I…” Pearl stammered, blushing. She felt Bismuth’s hand fall onto her shoulder, a feeling that eased her nerves almost instantly. She hadn’t felt that way since...since…

 

“I would like that very much,” Pearl nodded, smiling a confident smile.

 

\---

 

Unfortunately for them, the only place open at such a late hour was the Café Parisian, which Bismuth didn’t mind in the slightest, considering either way it allowed her a tour of the ship’s magnificent First Class spaces. Second Class was nothing to sneeze at, of course, but to march up into the B-Deck landing of the Aft Grand Staircase...that was worth the whole trip. She could have stood there all night, admiring the detailed, hand-carved woodworking and the marvelous, shimmering glass dome, but she  _ was _ actually hungry.

 

The Café Parisian was as equally refined, modeled to resemble a genuine street café in Paris. Of course, the wait staff was entirely Italian rather than French, but Bismuth gave points for trying. On the one side, large rectangular windows lined the wall, revealing the shining stars out above the pitch-black sea. On the other, white trellises and smaller windows filled in the space, with wicker chairs and tables sitting in between the two walls, similar to the Palm Court upstairs. Covering the entire café was live English Ivy, grown on board since the ship’s construction to climb the walls naturally. Bismuth didn’t have to say it outright, but she was definitely impressed. The pair sat down at a table, ordering some delicious pastries and getting to talking.

 

“Well I for one am all for Home Rule,” Pearl shrugged, “The Irish should have say in what goes on in Ireland, after all, not us.”

 

“Look, I get that, I really do,” Bismuth went on, “But I got to go to Belfast, and they  _ definitely  _ don’t like the idea.”

 

“Oh?” Pearl said, intrigued, “Why not?”

 

“Well, they’re mostly Protestant up there, ya know? But the rest of Ireland is Catholic. So the lot of them up north are afraid that an Irish-run Ireland isn’t gonna be too kind to them. Protests and everything.”

 

“Ah, I see,” Pearl nodded, “Hopefully it all sorts itself out when it reaches Parliament.”

 

Bismuth laughed. “Yeah, and when’ll that be?”

 

“Fair point, Mademoiselle Bismuth,” Pearl joked,  _ “Bon point.” _

 

“Oh, you know French?” the large architect inquired.

 

Pearl blushed. “Oh not much, just a few phrases here and there. I picked it up when me and Rose…”

 

“Rose?”

 

“Uh… She’s, uh…” Pearl stammered, as if a bandage had been pulled off, but with only the numb stinging afterwards felt, “She was…”

 

“Hey, hey,” Bismuth assured her, sensing that it was a sore subject, “You don’t have to tell me if it bothers you. Inquiry rescinded!”

 

“Thank you…” Pearl sighed, returning to her senses, “I’m fine, it’s just… Could we get some fresh air? I think I’ve had enough biscuits and tea for one night.”

 

“And you call yourself British,” Bismuth joked. 

 

Pearl couldn’t help but chuckle.

 

\---

 

Up on A-Deck, the First Class Promenade was thankfully enclosed, shielding the two from the brisk night air. Pearl walked arm-and-arm with Bismuth, strolling throughout the dim, wide corridor. The subject of Steven came up, followed by stories Pearl simply couldn’t resist telling.

 

“And then Steven ran out into the ballroom—”

 

“Completely in the nude,” Bismuth laughed,  _ “That  _ must have been a sight.”

 

“He was only four, so I couldn’t really fault him,” Pearl continued, “Though he  _ did  _ go without ice cream for a month.”

 

“Hey, now that’s just cruel and unusual.”

 

“Rose thought so, but I overruled her. She was—” Pearl said before freezing once again, standing as still as a streetlamp at the mention of her former employer.

 

“Pearl?” Bismuth asked, snapping her out of it.

 

“Oh!” Pearl exclaimed, attempting to ignore the sadness, “Yes, I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s...ugh!”

 

Pearl braced herself against a window, holding back the flood of memories.

 

“Do you...want to talk about it?”

 

“No! I…”

 

Pearl stopped and looked at her reflection in the glass, staring into her haggard, weary eyes as she realized that she  _ did  _ want to talk about it. She  _ needed  _ to talk about it.

 

She turned to Bismuth, and exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

 

“Rose and I first met about twenty years ago… I was just a housemaid at the time... But then she came to a gala dinner I was working and, well, everything just fell together from there…”

 

\---

 

_ Trentham Estate, North Staffordshire, England _

_ November 4, 1893 _

 

“Presenting, daughter of the Countess of Southby, Lady Rose Quartz,” a male servant announced as the young woman in a large, white dress stepped into the large, ornately-decorated hall. The estate was owned by Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, the Fourth Duke of Sutherland, and covered over 300 acres of woodlands and gardens. Trentham Hall, the focal point of the estate, had been designed by Charles Barry several decades earlier, as he was working on the rebuild of the Houses of Parliament. A 100-foot clocktower stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by a complex of bedrooms, servants’ quarters and even horse stables.

 

Rose was there against the wishes of her family, who disliked her being in the spotlight so much. And Rose, ever the rebel, snuck off to attend the Duke’s gala event herself. After a good while of talking to fellow guests and admiring works of art, she was tired, and snuck into a small library off closed off from the rest of the party. Collapsing in an armchair, she let out a big sigh.

 

“Remind me,” she chuckled to herself, “why do I go to these things?”

 

“I am afraid I cannot remind you of facts I myself am not aware of, Ma’am,” a voice told her. Rose turned her head to see a young maid dusting the shelves, with reddish hair and pale skin.

 

“Oh, no, I was just talking to myself,” Rose remarked, figuring it would be nice to have someone to talk to, “But I guess I go to these parties to get away from ol’ White— Oh, that’s what we call mother, mostly because of her hair but also to annoy her. And it  _ works.” _

 

The maid held back a chuckle. It wasn’t customary for the help to interact with guests, she remembered. But this one seemed to be open to it...

 

“Say,” she began, “I wonder if I recognize you from some place. Lots of famous people here, but you seem to escape me.”

 

“Ah, my apologies,” Rose said as she stood up and extended her hand out, “They call me Rose.”

 

“Pearl,” the young maid answered, shaking the woman’s hand.

 

“Anyway,” Rose continued, “White’s been trying to get me to take on some of her jobs as a Countess. And, like, I don’t  _ want  _ to spend the rest of my life going to fussy old lady houses to talk about...whatever it is fussy old ladies talk about! Leave that to Yellow and Blue! They love it! I wanna actually  _ do  _ things!”

 

“Sounds very noble, Ma’am,” Pearl nodded, “If a bit unorthodox.”

 

“Well, unorthodox must be my middle name, then.”

 

“In that case, your mother must have been very perceptive,” Pearl remarked, making Rose snort.

 

“Oh, sorry, how very ‘unladylike’ of me,” Rose apologized, half-sarcastically.

 

Pearl smiled. “You’re perfectly ladylike, Ma’am. Just a little rough around the edges.”

 

“Only a little? My, my, Pearl, you flatter me.”

 

“They say I tend to do that, yes,” Pearl laughed.

 

The two stood in silence for a few moments, before realizing they were both blushing.

 

“Well I must be returning to my duties,” Pearl said, about to turn away.

 

“Not necessarily,” Rose said, “How would you like a job?”

 

“I— What?”

 

“I know it’s sudden, but I’ve been needing a Lady’s Maid and, well, dusting all day doesn’t seem like your forte.”

 

Pearl paused to think, but then took one look at Rose and immediately said yes.

 

\---

 

_ Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States _

_ Three Years Later... _

 

“Thank you so very much for helping us,” Rose said as she and Pearl stepped out of the carriage, after having been taken into town by the nice Universe man. Pearl initially thought of it as an incredibly strange name for, well, anyone, until she saw his place of employ/residence.

 

“MR. UNIVERSE’S HOUSE OF MUSICAL WONDERMENT & FANFARE!” the circus-esque sign said outside the building. It looked half like a normal, American dwelling, the other half like a glorified funhouse, albeit with the lights off for the night. Compounding the compendium of poor taste (in Pearl’s opinion at least; Rose seemed almost entranced by it), Mr. Universe’s home had the utter audacity to sit on the town’s boardwalk, alongside the other fair rides and amusements.

 

“Of course, he’s a carnival barker…” Pearl muttered as they stepped into the house. The living room was fairly standard, Pearl figured, but her Rose deserved  _ more  _ than mere standard.

 

“It’s really no problem,” Greg told Rose as he let the two into his abode, “There’s a Western Union in town if you need to contact anyone.” 

 

Greg took off his winter coat and hung it on the wall, revealing a rather dashing figure underneath, in an equally dashing flannel shirt. Pearl could feel Rose’s eyes light up at the sight.

 

“It is rather late,” Pearl interjected, “Is there an inn we may stay at for the night?”

 

“Pearl, don’t be rude,” Rose quickly whispered before turning back to Greg, “But we wouldn’t want to impose on your hospitality, of course.”

 

“Oh no, it’s really nothing. After all, if every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs!” Greg joked as he lit the fireplace.

 

“Hot dogs?”

 

“Yeah, hot dogs?”

 

Rose’s face was blank.

 

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what hot dogs are.”

 

“Is it like caviar?” the wealthy young woman asked, innocently.

 

Greg laughed. Pearl simply held a restrained scowl. How  _ dare _ he laugh at Rose like this...

 

“Okay, first thing we’re gonna do,” Greg began, “Is get you two some frankfurters.”

 

“Are those the same as hot dogs?”

 

“...You’ll find out.”

 

\---

 

The town was bustling with activity at that hour, as residents awaited the new year. Gas lanterns illuminated the streets, a brass quartet played atop a bandstand, and while it was no longer Christmas, the whole scene carried a gay, merry feeling. And while Pearl found this to be perfectly quaint and ordinary, Rose was utterly amazed with small-town America.

 

“I managed to get a message out to Philadelphia informing them of our predicament, My Lady,” Pearl said as she emerged from the telegraph office, “We may have to rush to make the Campania out of New York, but if the trains are on time, then—”

 

Pearl looked up to see that Rose wasn’t paying attention to her in the slightest, and was instead embroiled in a conversation with the Universe man, as she savored the greasy, condiment-covered sausage in a bun that sat in her hands. Pearl then made a noise somewhere between a low growl and a stiff “harrumph,” catching her mistress’ attention.

 

“Pearl! Look! I’m eating a hot dog!”

 

“I can see that, My Lady,” Pearl nodded, faking a smile, “How is it?”

 

_ “Sooooo goooood!” _

 

Greg laughed. “Well I’m glad you like it.”

 

“They’re almost as good as  _ you,  _ Mr. Universe,” Rose remarked, winking at Greg.

 

Pearl felt her eyes widen in offense. Was she...flirting? With  _ him? _

 

Greg almost choked on his hot dog, surprised that such a remarkable woman was into a small town guy like him.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the mayor (who somehow had a sunburn in December) said atop a the town bandstand, “We are now...60 seconds to midnight!”

 

“Woo!” Greg cheered along with the crowd.

 

“This is so exciting!” Rose said, pulling her fur coat tight for warmth. “Isn’t it exciting, Pearl?”

 

“Uh, well, it’s very—” Pearl stammered before Rose quickly turned to Greg.

 

“Isn’t it exciting, Greg?”

 

“Oh yeah,” Greg said as he finished his food, “Though I hear it's even better up in New York.”

 

“Eh, I always thought that one was too crowded,” Rose shook her head. “But this is wonderful! Thank you so much for taking us into town.”

 

“Well, uh, I’m glad you like it,” Greg nodded, noticing himself blush at the realization that he was standing incredibly close to an incredibly beautiful woman, and that said beautiful woman was praising him to heck and back.

 

“Well,” Rose said with half-lidded eyes, “I’m glad to be here with you.”

 

“Ten seconds!” the mayor proclaimed. The crowd joined in on the countdown.

 

“Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!”

 

_ “Happy New Year!” _

 

Greg felt a pair of lips press firmly against his own, as Rose pulled him close into an embrace.

 

“Wow,” he chuckled, “That was...pretty cool, Miss Quartz.”

 

“Please,” Rose also chuckled, “call me Rose.”

 

As the crowd rang in the New Year, Pearl felt herself sigh in resignation. This Gregory Universe would last as long as Rose’s other affairs— And they would be leaving Delaware tomorrow anyway.

 

Nothing more would come of this night, Pearl was sure.

 

\---

 

 _Quartz_ _Manor, Northern England_

_ August 15, 1898 _

_ Nine Months Later... _

 

“It’s a boy.”

 

Pearl crouched down at the bedside, seeing Rose hold the young child in her arms.

 

“He’s beautiful,” Pearl heard herself say as she approached the bedside, “Have you decided on a name?”

 

She thought for a moment, before looking up with a gentle, pure smile.

 

“Steven.”

 

\---

 

_ Fourteen Years Later… _

 

“She would like to see you,” the nurse informed Pearl, guiding Pearl into Rose’s bedroom.

 

Pearl hesitantly approach the side of the bed, and saw Rose’s force themselves open. A pained smile stretched across her face. They were silent for a good while.

 

“I’m sorry,” Pearl heard Rose say.

 

“About what?”

 

“For this.”

 

“Rose, it’s not…” Pearl trailed off as felt herself tear up, but she pulled herself back together. “It’s not your fault.”

 

“I know... But still. Have...have you been in touch with Greg?”

 

“Yes, but I urge you to reconsider.”

 

“It’s too late to change the will now,” Rose shook her head. “Besides, I want this for him.”

 

“But what about Steven?”

 

Rose was stubbornly silent.

 

“What about what  _ he _ wants?” Pearl reiterated.

 

“He wants it, too,” Rose insisted.

 

“Are you sure?” Pearl implored, “He’s lived his whole life here. Moving to America...”

 

“Will be good for him,” Rose interrupted, “Steven deserves a normal adolescence, and he isn’t going to get it here. Not with White breathing down our necks and asking for more and more from us. I don’t want him to grow up going to gala after gala, dinner after dinner, all to impress some high society  _ twit-heads _ who wouldn’t know their own arseholes if they fell in ‘em.”

 

“Language.”

 

Rose snorted. “I’m on my deathbed, I can say whatever I like.”

 

Pearl started to cry. “Well,” she said, wiping away her tears, “I’d prefer your last words to be something dignified.”

 

Rose chuckled. “How about, ‘I love you, Pearl?’”

 

“I love you too,” Pearl smiled, holding Rose’s hand as long as she could.

 

Shortly after those words were spoken, Rose Quartz was declared dead.

 

\---

 

“And...that’s about it,” Pearl concluded, finishing the story. They were standing at the aft end of the promenade now, standing against the railing. Pearl’s eyes were watery now. Bismuth took her hand and held it tight.

 

“It’s going to be alright,” Bismuth said, softly.

 

“I know,” Pearl choked out, her voice cracking, “It’s just...hard.”

 

“Well if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

 

Pearl, feeling a swell of emotions flow through her, practically threw herself at Bismuth, the pair suddenly kissing under the starlight. Bismuth didn’t know what to think, but certainly wasn’t complaining.

 

Pulling out of the embrace, Pearl let herself exhale. The two awkwardly laughed for a moment, before smiling at walking back down the promenade.

 

“So...you asked about France earlier?” Pearl asked, taking Bismuth’s arm.

 

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I did,” the larger woman chuckled.

 

“Well, let me tell you about Notre Dame Cathedral,” Pearl smiled, knowing  _ that _ would certainly get the architect excited.

 

The two talked for hours, finally returning to Pearl’s cabin around one o’clock in the morning.

 

“When will I see you again?” Pearl asked as she opened the door.

 

“How about tomorrow?” Bis suggested, “Maybe show me around more? Heck, bring Steven. I’d love to get to know him better.”

 

“Oh, that would be quite lovely,” Pearl nodded, “I think he would like that very much.”

 

“Then it’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Irish Home Rule Movement, which is briefly discussed here by Bismuth and Pearl (no, Pearl does not hate the Irish in this AU) actually affected the Titanic's construction, as Belfast is located in what would later be known as Northern Ireland. Lord Pierre had no qualms with hiring Catholic workers, which the predominantly Anglican Belfast took issue with. In fact, when they were tearing the RMS Olympic apart for scrap in the late 1930s, they found "No Home Rule" written on the backs of wood panels.
> 
> Trentham Estate was one of the first English manor houses to be torn down in the 20th century, and the ruins of its grounds can be visited today. It's all quite interesting!
> 
> "White," Rose's mother in this AU, is said to be the "Countess of Southby," which of course is fictional. The town of Southby was taken from Raise the Titanic, which is revealed to be the location of the precious mineral the dive team raised the Titanic over (Why yes, in the film "Raise the Titanic," raising the Titanic is fundamentally pointless to the plot in the end. Go figure.)
> 
> Also, Rehoboth Beach is a real place, and was one of Rebecca Sugar's inspirations of Beach City!


	21. Beds ‘n’ Breakfast

_ On Board The RMS Titanic _

_ April 13, 1912 _

 

The sunlight shined into Peri’s cabin as Amethyst’s eyes blearily opened, the haze of the previous night steadily becoming clear to her once she remembered whose bed she was in. Realizing that the cute young engineer she’d been hugging was no longer cuddled against her. She looked up, and saw Peri getting dressed for work.

 

“Good morning, cupcakes,” Amethyst chuckled.

 

Smiling an embarrassed smile, Peri‘s face went red while she quickly pulled up her overalls. 

 

“I, well, uh…” she stammered as Amethyst got out of bed and swaggered up to her.

 

“I’ve always loved a girl in uniform,” Amethyst said, kissing her on the cheek.

 

“Good morning to you too,” Peri chuckled, “And, erm, thanks for the wonderful evening last night.”

 

“No problem, Boblem,” Amethyst nodded, pulling up her pants as well. “Any plans for today?”

 

“Unfortunately, I am to be working multiple shifts in the Engine Room today, so that will take up the majority of my time.”

 

Amethyst maintained her grin. “I can come down and keep you company…” she teased.

 

“I…” Peri began, flustered once again by Amethyst (which wasn’t to say she didn’t enjoy it), “I would love that. But I’m afraid we’re due for an inspection by Mr. Andrews either today or tomorrow, so our little G-Deck  _ rendezvous _ will have to wait until Monday..”

 

“Aw, that stinks,” Amethyst sighed, flopping back down onto Peri’s bunk. “I dunno if I can go that long, heh.”

 

Peri smiled and sat down alongside the young woman, feeling a rush of emotions flow through her. She had never felt this way before, about anyone. She started to say something, before hearing footsteps approaching outside.

 

_ “Shit!”  _ Peri swore under her breath. “Bigelow’s almost back! Quick, over here!”

 

She grabbed Amethyst and tossed her into the corner, where she was concealed as the door swung open. It revealed a young, average-looking man, clean-shaven in the same brand of uniform as Peri. He looked tired.

 

“John!” Peri exclaimed, ever-so-nonchalantly. “How was your shift?”

 

“Oh, well, you know… Same as usual, heh. Ol’ Joey’s still trying to get ‘er to maximum efficiency before the Andrews inspection.”

 

“Good, good,” Peri nodded, eyeing Amethyst in the corner and signaling for her to leave.

 

Amethyst gave a wink and quietly bolted out the door, but not before blowing the female engineer a kiss. Peri had to fight to hold back the blushing in her cheeks, not paying attention to a single word her colleague was saying.

 

This woman might just be the death of her, she thought.

 

\---

 

Making sure nobody saw her emerge from the Engineer’s hatchway, Amethyst felt herself jump up off the floor, punching the air in pure excitement. 

 

“Woo-hoo!” she hollered, even doing a dance in the middle of Scotland Road to celebrate.

 

Realizing quickly, however, that this was a good way to earn confused stares from stewards and other passengers, she ran around the corner and down the corridor, a spring in every step she took. It was strange, being  _ this _ happy after spending the night with someone. From her adventures Stateside to the many beds she’d shared back in Europe, there was no one who had made her feel this way. It wasn’t quite like being drunk, and it got close to what those weird plants her sisters grew back home did, but this feeling was _ au naturale,  _ and filled her with so much joy she could barely contain herself. Snapping her out of her jubilation was the sound of her stomach rumbling. Responding to it, Amethyst looked up and saw a crowd of passengers heading down into the Dining Saloon. 

 

“Welp,” she shrugged, “Woman’s gotta eat.”

 

Down in the Dining Saloon, she spotted the Maheswarans sitting at their usual spot, an empty seat next to Connie. Amethyst knew she would have to face Doug and Priyanka’s disapproval sooner or later, and began walking towards them. To her surprise, however,  _ Steven  _ of all people came running up to the girl, greeting her with a hug and taking Amethyst’s former seat. As she stood there, watching them from the foot of the stairs, she saw the two kids laughing, talking and playing with their food, and felt...jealous? No, that wasn’t it. She was happy the two obviously-lovebirds were getting along, but, well, what was he doing in Third Class?

 

_ Oh well,  _ Amethyst shrugged. 

 

She would just have to sit by the cute blonde girl over in the corner instead.

 

\---

 

Steven greatly enjoyed his time in Third Class. Down there, there were electric lights instead of crystal chandeliers, nickel-plated china instead of silver-plated ones, plain metal railings instead of ornate wooden ones and accordions, even bagpipes instead of string quartets. No rigid structure, no overblown publicity, no expectations. Everything seemed so...simple.

 

This was doubly so with the menu. When Connie offered for him to have breakfast with him that Saturday morning, and when Pearl approved (though he suspected that in her exultation from the night before, her judgement was a tad compromised; not that he was complaining), he couldn’t have been happier. Sneaking through the E-Deck entrance into Scotland Road, he ruffled up his hair to blend in and made his way towards the Third Class Dining Saloon.

 

“Connie!” he called out to her as he found her amongst the dozens of passengers filling the room, whose nationalities ranged from Irish to Swedish to Syrian. “Sorry I’m late!”

 

“It’s really no problem,” Connie insisted. “They haven’t even begun serving us yet.”

 

Just as Steven sat down, a steward came by with their breakfast; a modest, filling meal including Oatmeal Porridge, Ham & Eggs, Smoked Herring and Swedish Bread, among others.

 

“Sorry if it’s not as good as First—” Connie began, before turning her head and seeing Steven stuffing his face with porridge.

 

Doug couldn’t help but laugh. “The way he’s eating it, I’d say it’s better.”

 

_ “Doug!”  _ Priyanka scolded, interpreting it as an insult against the boy.

 

Steven swallowed, stifling a laugh himself. “No, no, he’s right. Everything up there has too much flavor. Some stuff I like, some of it I can’t stand, but this is  _ just _ right.”

 

“A boy with my kind of taste,” an Irishman with a wide, grayish-white mustache chuckled. He sat next to Priyanka, and seemed to be enjoying 

 

“Oh,” the man said, reaching his hand out, “Dr. O’Loughlin, at your service.”

 

Priyanka’s eyes lit up, turning to the 63-year-old doctor to her side.

 

“A doctor?” she asked.

 

“Ship’s doctor, actually,” he nodded. “Once a trip I’m s’posed to come down here an’ sample the food. Make sure they ain’t poisoning ya. And as far as I can tell, they ‘aven’t.”

 

“Well, and I don’t mean to brag,” Priyanka laughed, “I was a doctor back in India, actually.”

 

“Oh really?” O’Loughlin nodded, leaning over to address Doug. “You got a smart lady here, ya know that? That’s a keeper in my books, heh.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Doug nodded, biting into his eggs.

 

“Where’d you go for med school over there?”

 

“Calcutta,” Priyanka continued, “Was an assistant for a few years, met Doug, and then we had Connie and moved to England.”

 

“I imagine setting up a practice was hard.”

 

“Indeed. Luckily, Doug made enough that I didn’t have to keep working, but…” She looked up, almost wistfully. “I kinda hope I can work in a hospital again when we get to America. I hear they’re making great progress over there.”

 

Connie quietly averted her eyes, as if she had something to hide that neither the good doctor nor her parents knew. Luckily, no one seemed to notice, as Priyanka and Dr. O’Loughlin continued their discussion about recent medical breakthroughs while Doug sat and pretended to understand what they were talking about.

 

“What’s wrong?” Steven whispered, noticing Connie’s change in posture.

 

“It’s..nothing.”

 

“C’mon, you can tell me.  _ Unlessyoudon’twantto.” _

 

“Okay,” Connie chuckled. “It’s just that… So you know how we snuck around with Amethyst?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“Well, I snuck around with her the night before, actually, and, well, guess where we ended up?”

 

Steven blinked, unsure of how to respond. Connie tilted her head over to the doctor, making the gears turn in her friend’s head.

 

“Ohhhhh…” he whispered, realizing the connection. He wished he could do something. Remembering how much fun they had sneaking about with Amethyst, and spotting a door into the Third Class Pantry, he got an idea of how to cheer her up.

 

Steven placed a hand on Connie’s shoulder.

 

“Hey,” the boy continued, looking her in the eyes, “Wanna take a look around?”

 

Connie almost had stars in her eyes at the prospect, but first checked to see if her parents were paying attention (they weren’t). She nodded in agreement. 

 

“Let’s do it,” she said with a sly smile.

 

The two quietly slipped away from the table, rounding a corner and ducking into the pantry, hiding behind a steward that was already walking through the doorway. It was a fairly small room, located right next to the Third Class Galley, consisting of a few couple hot presses, stovetops, and assorted cabinets for non-perishables. The two kids grinned at their mutual rebelliousness, hiding behind the door as more stewards came and went through the room. Once they found a window in which no one was coming, Steven and Connie darted through the door and into a plain, white hallway.

 

“We’re off the beaten path now,” Connie commented, giddy with excitement. “Now, where to?”

 

Steven was about to say something (probably along the lines of “beats me”) when he heard a strange yelping noise coming from down the corridor.

 

“Was that...a bark?” Steven asked, slowly approaching the door.

 

Connie cautiously walked up to the door with him, getting a chance to read the plate above the door once she got close enough.

 

“Kennel?” she pondered, before placing her hand on the knob and swinging the door open.

 

Behind it was a room lined with cages, each of them containing a dog who was being cared for by the ship’s staff over the course of the voyage. Among them were a King Charles Spaniel, a French Bulldog, a Pomeranian, a Pekingese, and two Airedale Terriers, all belonging to First Class passengers up above.

 

“Aww, look at the puppies!” Steven exclaimed, rushing to pet them through the cages. Connie followed behind, his enthusiasm infectious.

 

“They’re so cute!” Connie reached out, scratching one of the terriers behind the ears. She looked at the dog’s collar. “This one’s named  _ Kitty,” _ she giggled.

 

“These ones are  _ so small,”  _ Steven excitedly said regarding the so-called ‘toy dogs,’ which were small enough to be carried in most cases. “Too cute...to function…”

 

Steven and Connie’s ogling of the dogs was interrupted when someone walked in on them.

 

“Hey!” he shouted. “No passengers allowed back here!” 

 

“I…” Steven started, eyes wide and frozen with fear.

 

“Unless you tip well enough,” the crew member joked, kneeling down to the children’s level. “Heh, no one can resist the pups, can they?”

 

“Y-yeah,” Steven said with a sigh of relief, “I guess not.”

 

“John Hutchinson,” the man greeted, reaching out his hand, “Ship’s carpenter.”

 

“Pleased to meet you,” Steven smiled, shaking his hand. “What’s the ship’s carpenter do? I don’t think there’s a lot of woodcarving to do at sea...”

 

“Oh that’s true, very true. We do lots o’ stuff, most of ‘em going back to the sailing days. But you know the job I enjoy most?”

 

“What?”

 

“Takin’ care of these little guys,” Hutchinson said as he stood back up and petted one of the dogs. “Gotta keep ‘em nice and safe for their owners. The bellboys usually take ‘em out for walkies, but today I figured I’d indulge me-self a bit.”

 

“But what I don’t understand, sir,” Connie began, “Is why the dogs are kept here of all places. I mean, why near the galley?”

 

The carpenter chuckled, reaching for a bucket that he had carried in with him. The bucket contained copious amounts of meat-scraps, freshly cut and discarded, which were then tossed into the cages for the dogs to eat (which they then ate ravenously).

 

_ Oh, _ Connie realized, mentally kicking herself for not realizing it sooner. 

 

It was certainly one way to feed twelve dogs at sea.

 

\---

 

After the two kids had their fun with the dogs in the kennel, they returned to the Dining Saloon, where breakfast was still going on. They sat back down, ready to enjoy their meal. Just as before, Steven loved every mouthful of it, amusing Connie to no end. Once their meal was over, the pair met atop the stairs.

 

“It was great seeing you again, Steven,” Connie smiled, blushing a little bit to boot.

 

“It was great seeing you,” Steven nodded. “A-actually…” He chuckled in embarrassment, trailing off.

 

“What?”

 

“Ah, no, you wouldn’t be interested.”

 

_ “What?” _

 

Steven leaned against the railing, attempting to be “smooth,” as it were.

 

“Pearl wanted me to ask you if you wanted to, uh,  _ hang out  _ with us and Bismuth today…if you don’t want to that’s fine and I’m sure you have tons of plans and friends and—”

 

Steven suddenly slipped, tumbling straight down the stairs and landing flat on his back. To his surprise, Connie knelt down and whispered into his ear.

 

“I’ll see you then.”

 

And as he lay at the base of the stairs, blood rushing to his head, Steven felt as though stars were appearing in his eyes.

 

Though he should probably get that looked at, he figured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peridot's roommate, "John Bigelow," did not exist, nor did his role, the Extra Sixth Engineer. He was added to the story purely because of the logistical issue of giving Peridot, the fictional Junior Assistant Sixth Engineer, a berth on the ship. My solution was to give her an entirely fictional room (as Titanic in real life had finite bunk space for the engineers), and since I didn't want to cut anyone real out of history, I took Alec Guinness' character from "Raise the Titanic" (who had the nonsense rank of Junior Third Officer In Charge Of Cargo or something) and made him Peri's roommate! I even based his description on what Alec Guinness looked like in his youth.
> 
> It was indeed the job of the ship's doctor to eat in Third Class once a voyage, as demonstrated here. And, well, I couldn't resist making Dr. O'Loughlin and Dr. Maheswaran get along (and if you're wondering, there were indeed women doctors in 1912, as well as ones from India!)
> 
> And, of course, Titanic's kennels were located right near the Third Class Galley, solely because of the easy access to meat scraps, and the Ship's Carpenter (which was a bit of a misnomer because he rarely dealt with wood) was in charge of their upkeep.
> 
> Oh and the blonde girl Amethyst sits with? Why, that's none other than Sadie, in a reference to E350tb's wonderful [The Charmed Life of Sadie Miller](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17053181) installment of his Unauthorized Tales From The Titanic series. Also, E350 has also done [this](http://e350tb.tumblr.com/post/182050242636/a-fanart-of-captainjzhs-excellent-titanic-au-in) amazing fanart of Ruby and Sapphire atop the fourth funnel, which is an utter delight.
> 
> (Also, wow we just passed 30,000 words!)


	22. A Grand Day Out

After sneaking Connie back into First Class, Steven met with Pearl and Bismuth up on the Boat Deck. They were actually on the Second Class side (luckily a rather distracted young engineer was there to let them through), atop the raised roof of the Smoking Room while a crewmen fetched them something from a locker at the base of the fourth funnel. Climbing up the short set of stairs onto the upraised deck, Steven quickly greeted Pearl and Bismuth with mutual hugs before introducing Connie.

 

“Good to see you, Steven,” Bismuth nodded, “Lovely day, ain’t it?”

 

“Sure is, Bis,” Steven chuckled. “Hey, that rhymes!”

 

“I bet it does,” the architect laughed, turning to Connie. “And hello to you! Connie, wasn’t it?”

 

“Yes it was. And is. And will be. And, uh...” Connie stammered before shaking her head and mentally starting over. “Good morning, Ma’am.”

 

“Good morning to you, too,” Bismuth said, shaking the young girl’s hand. “Hey crewboy, you got it, yet?”

 

“Just a moment, miss!” the crewman called out to her, marching over with a small wooden crate.

 

“What’s he getting?”

 

Bismuth smiled. “I’m guessing you two never played Shuffleboard before, have ya?”

 

The two kids shook their heads.

 

Pearl chimed in. “Uh, neither have I… How do we play?”

 

“Ah, don’t worry,” Bismuth nodded. “I’ll teach ya.”

 

\---

 

The weather that day was fairly mild; Clouds littered the otherwise sunny, blue sky, and aside from the sea breeze providing a steady chill, it was nothing a coat couldn’t stop. But for Steven, after a few rounds of Shuffleboard— which was a  _ surprisingly  _ physically intensive game —he was sweating right through his coat and discovering strained muscles in places he didn’t think he even  _ had _ muscles.

 

“Steven, you’re up,” Connie told him as his turn came up.

 

The boy held back a sigh and forced himself up off the bench over to the the pucks that laid behind the shuffleboard triangle, Bismuth handing him his playing stick.

 

“Yes, go Steven!” Pearl called out from the railing, clapping her hands excitedly.

 

Steven grabbed hold of the playing stick, and weakly pushed a puck down the deck, not even halfway to the other triangle.

 

“Woo!” Pearl cheered on, “You’re doing amazing, sweetie!”

 

Steven managed a smile before slouching back onto the bench, as Connie took her turn. She was doing quite well, she had to admit, but she found herself, well,  _ distracted.  _ By Steven. And not like how she’d been distracted by him for, well, the past couple days— the way he filled her thoughts was nothing short of paradise for a daydreamer like herself —but as she thrust her puck down the court (which landed right in the 10 space, earning cheers from Pearl and Bismuth) she couldn’t help but notice that Steven wasn’t enjoying this particular game.

 

“I’m gonna go take a break,” Connie told the two adults as she sat down next to the boy. 

 

She caught him attempting to stretch his arms, which appeared to be quite sore. As soon as he noticed her, however, he laid back against the bench nonchalantly, as if he was the coolest boy in the world.

 

“Uh, heeeeeyyy…” Steven said, stretching his arm until he heard an unfortunate snapping sound. “...How’re you doing?”

 

“I’m good, but how about you?” 

 

Steven hesitated for a little too long, raising Connie’s suspicions. 

 

“I take it you don’t like Shuffleboarding much.”

 

Steven sighed. “How’d you guess?”

 

“Well for one thing, you don’t seem like the type to exercise.”

 

“I exercise!” he rang out in defense. “Just...occasionally.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Connie chuckled. “Well, we don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t want to.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah! I bet there’s tons of other stuff to do on board.”

 

“I know, but I don’t wanna upset Pearl or anything. She seems to be having fun with Bismuth…”

 

Steven didn’t often show it, but he was well aware of how much Pearl had loved his mother, and while he certainly didn’t mind it, he was glad she was moving on. And, if he was being honest, Bismuth seemed like a pretty dang good match for her.

 

“I can to talk them for you,” Connie nodded with a smile. “I’m sure they’d be up for anything.”

 

“You would? Oh my gosh, thank you!” Steven said, pulling her into a quick hug. He subsequently winced at his sore muscles, but he had no regrets.

 

Connie got up and went over to Pearl and Bismuth, who were just finishing up their turns.

 

“And that’s another eight points!” Pearl declared, thrusting her playing stick into the air triumphantly, before looking around self-consciously for people staring.

 

“Dang Pearl, you are  _ destroying  _ it out there,” Bismuth complimented her. “You sure this is your first time?”

 

“First of all, I have not destroyed anything. That would be illegal,” Pearl nodded. “Second,  _ thank you,  _ but no, I suppose I just learn quickly.”

 

“Heh, I bet you do,” Bismuth laughed with a teasing grin.

 

Connie, as entertained as she was by the exchange, interrupted the two with a clearing of her throat.

 

“Oh, Connie!” Pearl snapped back to reality. “It’s your and Steven’s turn, I believe.”

 

“Actually…” Connie began, “I was thinking we try something else today! Maybe something less...  _ intensive _ ?”

 

Pearl looked over Connie’s shoulder and saw Steven, still slumped over on the bench. Connecting the dots, she remembered that physical activities weren’t exactly Steven’s forte. Feeling guilty for not noticing his discomfort sooner, she resolved to make it up to him.

 

“Well,” Pearl started, “there was one place we’ve been meaning to check out…”

 

\---

 

Titanic’s Turkish Baths were located on F Deck, at the very bottom level of the Grand Staircase. It cost about four shillings (or one dollar) per passenger, and was one of the more modern facilities on board. In many ways like a spa or sauna, it offered a Hot Room, a Steam Room, a Temperate Room and a Cooling Room. The Baths were modeled predominantly after Moorish architecture, originating from Islamic settlers in North Africa and southern Europe. A fact that Bismuth in particular seemed to be gushing over.

 

_ “Oh my gosh!”  _ she exclaimed as she entered the ornate corridor leading through the Baths. “This place is amazing!”

 

“I’ll say,” Connie whispered in astonishment.

 

“But this is just the hallway…” Steven commented, admittedly a bit unfazed by dazzling interior design on account of living in a manor house all his life (and Pearl, who had dragged him to more castles and cathedrals across Great Britain than he could count).

 

“I know!” Bismuth replied, admiring the beautiful textiles lining the walls. “Ain’t it grand?”

 

Steven smiled. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

 

The first room the group checked out was the Cooling Room, where they changed into their bathing attire, which consisted of elegant bathing gowns for Pearl, Bismuth and Connie, and a dark red singlet for Steven. Normally, they wouldn’t allow children in the Baths, especially those of differing gender (women were typically allowed in the morning and men in the afternoon), but, well, stewards had a funny way of forgetting the rules when handed a sizable enough tip. Which they also did with regards to the entry of Bismuth and Connie, as the Baths  _ were  _ First Class only, after all.

 

The Cooling Room was utterly breathtaking, with immaculate green and blue tiles lining the walls and ceiling. Lovingly-upholstered lounge chairs sat in front of the walls, for patrons to rest their troubles away if they so chose. Steven was one of those people who so chose.

 

“Ahhhhhh…” Steven sighed, laying back on the lounger as Pearl and Bismuth finished dressing. Connie laid down in the lounger next to him, smiling at him endearingly.

 

“What?” Steven asked, noticing her gaze.

 

“You look cute in a bathing suit.”

 

Steven felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment, attempting to cover himself with the cylindrical pillow that sat behind him.

 

“I, uh… Same to you, too.”

 

“Why thank you, Sir Steven.”

 

“Hey, I haven’t been knighted yet.”

 

“Right, right.”

 

“But Pearl  _ is _ gunning for it. I think she’s tried to get an audience with both King George and King Edward. Also maybe Queen Victoria when I was little...”

 

“Of course she did,” Connie giggled.

 

Steven looked to the dressing chamber (weirdly, Pearl and Bismuth entered the same one despite there being  _ three  _ at their disposal, which Steven just shrugged off) and began searching for something else to do in the room. Over towards the entrance vestibule, he spotted a chair raised atop a platform, with a small mechanical device on the table next to it.

 

“I think I’ve seen one of these before,” Steven commented. “It’s like, a chair that tells you your weight.”

 

“Now why would anyone want to do that?”

 

“Cause it’s fun!” Steven said, stepping up onto the chair and eagerly awaiting its judgement.

 

A tiny slip of paper then shot out of the machine, which Connie went to grab

 

_ “Ten Stone, Fifteen Pounds,” _ she read.

 

“Jeez, that much?” Steven chuckled nervously. His clothes were getting a bit tight these days, he admitted.

 

“Eh, I don’t think you’re that bad,” Connie comforted him, sitting up on the chair as well. “You got a bit of a tummy going I guess, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”

 

“R-really?” Steven asked, blushing a bit.

 

“Yeah! Just means you like a good meal.”

 

“Well I do like food,” Steven laughed.

 

“Heh, you should try my dad’s cooking.”

 

“Your dad cooks?”

 

“He calls it ‘authentic Indian food’ but it’s mostly just potatoes and rice.”

 

“I’d eat it,” Steven remarked.

 

Before Connie could further besmirch her father’s cooking (and Steven’s taste), the curtain of the dressing stall opened, with Pearl and Bismuth flusteredly stepping out in their bathing gowns.

 

“Have fun?” Connie asked them, making Pearl blush even more than she already was.

 

Bismuth had to fight to restrain her laughter.

 

\---

 

After some time in the Temperate Room, the group began to unwind  _ fully _ in the Hot Room, which worked wonders for relaxation. As Pearl and Connie relaxed out on the loungers, Bismuth and Steven decided to spend some time in the adjacent Steam Room.

 

“Ahhh…” Bismuth sighed with relief as she took in the hot, vapory air. “Nothing like a good trip to the sauna to take a load off, eh?”

 

“I, uh, haven’t been in one before, heh,” Steven chuckled, trying to hide his nervousness.

 

“You haven’t? How does a rich kid like you end up never going to a sauna before? I’d imagine that’s right up Pearl’s alley.”

 

Steven felt himself laugh at that. “Well I’m not big on water, so there’s that, I guess.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“No, no, I’m not afraid of it or anything, I’m just not a fan of getting wet. Whenever we went to the beach, I’d walk along it or build sandcastles. I actually haven’t used my bathing suit in, like, six years or whatever.”

 

“Well it looks great, Steven,” Bismuth complimented. Then, slyly, she added, “And I think  _ Connie  _ thinks so, too.”

 

“Stop, I’ve blushed too many times already,” Steven commented as his sweaty face went red once more.

 

“Hey, it’s true! You two are like...what are those things that fit in a pod?”

 

“Peas?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, that. Why don’t you spend more time together?”

 

“We are!”

 

“Yeah, but you don’t need me and Pearl around, cramping your style. I bet she loves it when she’s just having fun with you.”

 

“Yeah… So what should I do?” Steven asked, quickly going down a list of possibilities. “Take her to dinner? Does she like food? Dance with her under the moonlight? What if she doesn’t know how to dance? Sing her a song? Does she even like music? Show her the sunrise? Well maybe she prefers the sunset… Drive her around town?  _ Walk  _ her around town? Buy the town? Ask her to—”

 

“Whoa, whoa there, kid,” Bismuth laughed. “I think you’re overthinking this.”

 

“I… I have a tendency to do that, yeah.”

 

“Just do something you and her really like doing! Or heck, if you wanna surprise her, take her somewhere she hasn’t been and you think she’ll like!”

 

Steven thought for a moment. There was one other place he’d been wanting to visit.

 

“I know just the thing,” he nodded. “But what about you and Pearl?”

 

“Oh, I think she has some ideas.”

 

\---

 

Out in the Hot Room, Pearl and Connie had discovered a mutual love for racquet sports, and were discussing it at length. At this point, the discussion had drifted to the topic of the upcoming Summer Olympics.

 

“I simply don’t think Dixon is a good pick for the Men’s Singles,” Pearl went on, “He only won, what,  _ one  _ bronze medal in ‘08? It’s gold or go home in my book.”

 

“Well, any medal’s a win, I’d figure,” Connie shrugged. “And what about the people without any medals? You gotta give them a chance.”

 

“Fair, fair,” Pearl nodded. “I will admit that Edith Hannam looks…  _ promising _ .”

 

“Oh, ‘cause she won the Cincinnati Masters tournament a few years back?”

 

“...Yes, that’s what I meant.”

 

Freeing Pearl from what may have turned into an awkward conversation, Bismuth and Steven emerged from the Steam Room, refreshed.

 

“I see you two are getting along pretty well,” Bismuth commented.

 

“Oh yes,” Connie nodded. “It’s great to finally meet someone I can talk tennis with.”

 

“Also fencing,” Pearl reminded her.

 

“Heh, I’d never peg you as a fencer,” Bismuth chuckled.

 

“Well, don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” Pearl smiled, getting up from the lounger.

 

“I don’t intend to,” Bismuth nodded. “Anyway, me and the Stebs here were talking, and maybe we should split up? You and me, him and Connie.”

 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Pearl hesitated, “The ship is so big, and they could get lost…”

 

“This is the same kid who somehow made it down to Third Class, safe and sound,” Bismuth said, defending the boy. “I’m sure he knows his way around.”

 

Pearl sighed and knelt down to Steven’s level. She placed a hand lovingly over one of his cheeks.

 

“You’re getting so grown up, aren’t you?”

 

Steven felt his face split into an embarrassed smile. “C’mon, Pearl… Not in front of Connie…”

 

Pearl ignored his wish, kissed the boy on the forehead, and stood back up. “Alright, if I don’t see you at lunch, I want you at the cabin by four. Is that understood?”

 

“Yes, Pearl, thank you!” Steven nodded, before grabbing Connie’s hand and bolting out the door.

 

“Wait, you need to change out of your swimwear!” Pearl called out, about to rush after him, but she was stopped by Bismuth.

 

“He’s a smart kid, he’ll figure it out.”

 

“True, true,” Pearl admitted, however begrudgingly. “Anyways, what did you have in mind, for our time alone together?”

 

“Oh,” Bismuth laughed, blushing somewhat herself, “I was hoping you could, uh, take the lead.”

 

“Well then,” Pearl began, placing her arm around Bismuth with a wild look in her eyes, “Have you ever… Squashed?”

 

“...What?”

 

\---

 

“Where on Earth are we going?” Connie laughed as she ran with Steven up the Grand Staircase, fingers laced together (thankfully, now back in her normal clothes).

 

“It’s a surprise!” Steven exclaimed as they reached C-Deck. He stopped for a moment to remember where he was going, before bolting down the corridor aft.

 

“Can I have a hint, at least?”

 

“Nope! That would ruin the surprise!”

 

Steven, still holding onto her hand, pulled the girl around a stewards’ linen cart, between two passengers mid-conversation (one of whom let out an “why, I say!” and “I’d never!”) and under the dress of Berthe Antonine Mayné, the up-and-coming cabaret singer (who merely laughed the encounter off, luckily).

 

“Sorry!” Steven called out as they rounded the corner, reaching the landing of the Aft Grand Staircase. He quickly went to cover Connie’s eyes. “Now, Madame Maheswaran… presenting…”

 

He removed his hands from her view, revealing the sight of a nondescript, oak-laden door with a small barber pole next to it.

 

“The Barber Shop!” he introduced, waving his hands dramatically.

 

“Oh.”

 

“You don’t like it,” Steven said. It was a statement, not a question.

 

“No, no, I… Well, I’ve been to barber shops before, but… I guess I haven’t been to one at sea!” Connie rectified, realizing that anywhere Steven took her would be wonderful. “And… I haven’t been to one with you, so I guess that’s even better?”

 

Steven’s infectious smile returned, as he enthusiastically rushed to the door and opened it for her. 

 

“Right this way, My Dear.”

 

The Barber Shop was surprisingly less ornate than the rest of First Class, and almost seemed more like a souvenir shop than a rich man’s hairdresser. Pennants adorned with the ship’s name and other assorted toys hung from the ceiling, with two barber chairs sitting in front of a large mirror below. The barber, one Augustus Henry Weikman, seemed to already know Steven by name.

 

“Right this way, Steven,” the mustachioed man nodded. “And who is this?”

 

“Connie Maheswaran,” the girl nodded. “A...uh, friend of Steven’s.”

 

“Well any friend of Steven’s is a friend of mine! What’ll it be today? Another pennant? Or how ‘bout a doll? Do kids still like dolls?”

 

Steven smiled sheepishly. “...Well, I do, at least, but that’s not why I’m here.”

 

He stepped forward and stuck his cheek out at the man, attempting to emphasize one, particular spot. Weikman squinted, as did Connie, until they noticed what he apparently wanted them to notice. A small, miniscule speck of hair growing on his face, barely visible but there nonetheless.

 

“Well, well, well,” the barber chuckled, “What have we here? Looks like you’re growing a beard here, son!”

 

“Also, my hair’s been getting a bit bushy lately, so I’d like…”

 

“Lemme guess… Shave and a haircut?” he asked in a familiar, sing-songy tone.

 

“Two bits!” Steven and Connie said at the same time, before breaking down into giggles.

 

Weikman smiled as Steven plopped himself down in a chair, then turning his attention to Connie. 

 

“Now how about you, little girl?”

 

Connie thought about the long locks of hair that ran down her back. They’d been like that for a while, and she figured it might as well be time for a change. “Well… I  _ could  _ use a haircut…”

 

“Then right this way, miss!”

 

As Connie sat down in the chair next to Steven, she heard Mr. Weikman march out of the barber shop, returning with Arthur White, his Assistant Barber, who had been lounging about in the hall outside.

 

“Yes, Mr. Weikman, I’ll get right on it,” he nodded, heading on over to Steven. “What will it be today, Mr. Quartz?”

 

“I go by Steven, actually. And just a bit off the top. Also a shave,” he chuckled.

 

Over by Connie, Weikman began preparing himself like a surgeon prepares for, well, surgery.

 

“How short would you like it, Miss?”

 

“Uh…” Connie said, looking herself over in the mirror. “How about...a little above the shoulders?”

 

“I reckon that can be arranged.”

 

\---

 

“And... _ viola!”  _ the barber proclaimed, spinning Connie around to the mirror. “What do you think?”

 

“I like it a lot!” she exclaimed, a smile stretching across her face. “Do you like yours, Steven?”

 

Steven, whose look had barely changed at all, was grinning ear-to-ear, stars practically in his eyes. “I love it! Thank you so much!”

 

“My pleasure,” Mr. White nodded. “Will that be all?”

 

“Actually…” Steven looked up at the dolls and pennants hanging from the ceiling. “There are a few things…”

 

\---

 

Departing the barber shop, Steven with a doll resembling a woman in a dress and Connie with a commemorative pennant (which Steven insisted that he pay for), the pair walked the halls, eventually reaching the Forward Grand Staircase, where they saw Chief Purser McElroy at the Enquiry Office, checking in some man’s rather expensive-looking book.

 

“I live to serve,” McElroy said as the man went and left, apparently in a hurry. “Now what can I do you two?”

 

“Well… I don’t have a purse so I don’t think you can help with that…” Steven chuckled, approaching the counter.

 

“Oh, well, the Purser does a lot more than check in purses, you know.”

 

“Like what?” Connie asked, eagerly curious.

 

McElroy leaned down to the counter, lowering his voice as though he was telling the kids some big secret.

 

“Well, think of the Titanic, not as a ship, but as a hotel with a bow and a stern, stuck on. And I’m the hotel manager.”

 

“We still don’t know what that means,” Steven replied, his cheery expression unchanged.

 

McElroy thought for a moment, trying to think of something to appease the children. “Say, have you kids ever sent a wireless message before?”

 

“Oh my gosh, can we?” Steven said, stars in his eyes.

 

“Well, I can’t let you actually _send it,”_ the purser mused, “but we did recently get in range with Cape Race, so if there’s anyone on land you want to get word to, I’d be happy to send it down for you. For a nominal fee, of course.”

 

At first no one came to Steven’s mind, but then he remembered: His father, down in Delaware. He’d written them before, though most of the time it was to his mom or Pearl, and Steven had never gotten a chance to personally reply; Pearl always insisted that she write “a proper reply.” Now, he could send a message to the illusive man himself!

 

“How much?” he asked.

 

“Twelve shillings and sixpence for the first ten words, nine pence for each additional.”

 

“Mr. Purser,” Steven nodded, pulling out his wallet, “It’s on me.”

 

“Yes,” McElroy nodded. “Naturally, since it is  _ your  _ message. Here you go.”

 

He handed Steven an official Marconi slip and a pen, and Steven went off to a nearby couch with Connie to figure out what to write.

 

“Who’re you writing it to?” Connie asked as they sat down.

 

“My dad. I’m… I’m really excited to meet him. Also nervous. But also excited. Mostly nervous.”

 

Connie placed a hand on his shoulder, noticing his leg shaking in nervousness.

 

“Relax, I’m sure he’s going to love you.”

 

“You think?”

 

“Of course! You’re a very lovable kid, you know.”

 

“D’aww, you’re just saying that.”

 

“If I was, would I do…  _ this?” _ she asked, reaching around him and tickling his belly. He started to giggle at first, before going all out and laughing uncontrollably.

 

“S-stop! I c-can’t breathe!” he said in between cackles.

 

“Not until you agree that I’m right,” the tickling girl teased.

 

“Okay, okay, you’re right! I’m very lovable!” 

 

Connie immediately pulled back, a smug smile on her face. She also managed to grab the pen and blank Marconigram from him, beginning to write the message.

 

“Now, shall we begin?”

 

“Let’s,” Steven nodded, having regained his composure. “Dear father…”

 

“Wait, how long did he say it had to be?”

 

Steven looked back over at the Enquiry Office, where Purser McElroy pretended that he wasn’t eavesdropping on the two kids. He looked back into his wallet, and remembered that he definitely had no shortage of shillings to his name.

 

“I dunno,” he shrugged.

 

Out of the corner of his hearing, he could hear Purser McElroy sigh, but figured it was unrelated.

 

\---

 

“Pearl, how do you play Squash again?” Bismuth asked as she and Pearl made their way down into the Squash Court. 

 

The Squash Court was located far down on G-Deck, the lowest passenger area on the ship. It was a large, white room, with a screened-in observation gallery on F-Deck and several lines along the floor and forward wall.

 

“It’s easy to pick up, I assure you,” Pearl nodded. “Now, do you have your racquet?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“And do you know how to swing it?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well then, now you know everything you need to know.”

 

Bismuth cocked her eyebrow, taking offense to the implication that she needed an “easy” game in order to be good. A smirk spread across her face as she took her position next to Pearl, the two of them standing in white boxes drawn on the floor. She was going to  _ show her. _

 

“Oh yeah?” Bismuth teased. “Bring it, sister.”

 

Pearl tossed the squash ball into the air, hitting it with her racquet towards the forward wall. It bounced off, heading back to the two players at equal speed, and Pearl was prepared to swing at it again, until Bismuth hit it instead, even going as far as to make a “Oh, did I do that?” face.

 

“It is  _ on,  _ now, Madame Bismuth. En garde!” she said as she attempted to take back the ball.

 

“Hey, those are fencing terms!”

 

“Heh, there’s no rule against it.”

 

“Touché.”

 

Up on the Observation Gallery, two familiar faces in blue dresses decided to make an appearance.

 

“Oh!” Lapis exclaimed, noticing Sapphire standing next to her. “Didn’t see you there.”

 

“It’s no problem,” Sapphire nodded. “I have a tendency to either be noticed everywhere or not noticed at all. Best of both worlds, really.”

 

Lapis snorted, before remembering that laughing wasn’t exactly “lady-like,” although it wasn’t like Sapphire cared much about that. “I think I’d prefer to not be noticed at all. Then again, I guess I don’t already…”

 

“Perhaps,” Sapphire shrugged. “But maybe we all need to be noticed by someone, every once in a while.”

 

“What do you mean—” Lapis began to ask, before Sapphire redirected the conversation back to the court.

 

“Oh look, Bismuth is winning.”

 

_ “She is not!”  _ Pearl called out, furiously taking the ball back.

 

Lapis sighed and focused back on the game. She looked on as Pearl swung her racquet at the ball as it bounced back towards them, growing faster and faster with every hit. Her movements were graceful, yet forceful. Elegant, yet bold. It made her feel something deep inside her, something warm and bubbly. If she didn’t know better, she would have labeled this feeling as “infatuation,” but that  _ surely  _ couldn’t be. She shook her head and got up to leave, but for some reason decided to stay and watch some more.

 

Sapphire could only smile.

 

\---

 

_ Dearest Father, _

_ It is with the utmost excitement that I, your darling son, await our arrival in the United States of America, as we sail on this utterly magnificent liner, traveling faster and faster across the seas, but alas, not fast enough to finally meet the man whomst brought life to me those nearly fourteen years prior to this date, April the Thirteenth, Nineteen-Hundred-And-Twelve! I cannot wait to see you, Gregory Universe, in the flesh, and that is why I end this letter on a note of eagerness and parental yearning, which fills my soul greater and greater every day. _

_ Love you across the seas,  _

_ Steven _

 

“And that’s it!” Connie said, finishing her writing, which had gone onto the back of the Marconigram. “What do you think?”

 

“I love it!” Steven exclaimed. “It’s perfect.”

 

“I think he’ll love it, too,” Connie smiled.

 

The kids ran back to the Enquiry Office, handing the slip of paper over to the very surprised Purser, who began counting out the words. He took a particularly long time at it, too.

 

“And that’s… oh deary me,  _ 106 _ words. Which comes out to…”

 

The Purser did some discrete mathematics on a nearby pad of paper, before turning back to the two kids.

 

“Four pounds, four shillings, and sixpence. If you don’t mind sir, I’d call that a world record for the longest  _ and  _ most expensive Marconigram ever composed.” He coughed off to the side. “Or sent…”

 

Steven opened his wallet and handed the man a Fiver, telling him to “keep the change,” which McElroy couldn’t help but smile at as he sent the Marconigram up the pneumatic tube, taking it up to the Wireless Room up top.

 

This Steven was a good kid, he was.

 

\---

 

“And take that!” Pearl continued to gloat as she dominated the Squash Court, “And that! And how about this? And this? And this?! And—”

 

Bismuth, not one to take losing lying down, threw her racquet at Pearl just as she was about to hit the ball for the umpteenth time, making her lose her balance and step out of her white square in the floor.

 

“Whoops! Looks like you’re disqualified!”

 

“Foul! I call foul!” Pearl called out, pointing at Bismuth as she laid on the floor, making what most people would call “a scene.”

 

“You can’t call foul without a ref,” Bismuth said, folding her arms with a smug grin on her face.

 

“Well  _ I  _ am the umpire of this court,” Pearl decided, “And I hereby penalize you on account of unsportsmanlike conduct!”

 

“You can’t be unsportsmanlike if you’re not a man,” Bismuth shrugged.

 

Pearl tried to maintain her anger, but she couldn’t help but burst into snickers at that quip.

 

“Well,” she said between laughs, “I cannot argue with that logic.”

 

“You probably should,” Bismuth remarked. “I’m not usually one for logic…”

 

She got up off the floor and walked up to Bismuth, her cheeks blushing all of a sudden. As Pearl got closer and closer, Bismuth felt her cheeks blush as well, as the two unthinkingly headed towards a loving embrace…

 

“Hi Pearl!” they heard up from the Observation Gallery. 

 

_ Oh. Right. The Observation Gallery,  _ Pearl thought as she took several steps back from Bismuth and waved up at the balcony.

 

“Oh,  _ hello  _ Steven! And Connie! What a  _ pleasant surprise!”  _ She also spotted Lapis and Sapphire up in the gallery, the former acting like she didn’t see anything and the latter giving the two a knowing smirk.

 

“I was gonna go take Connie back to her cabin, down in Third?” Steven asked through the metal screen.”If that’s okay with you. I don’t think her parents want her going back by herself.”

 

Before Pearl could say anything, Bismuth butted in, sensing an opportunity. “That’s more than okay, kid!” she chuckled, “Do whatever you want, Pearl’ll see you at dinner!”

 

“Aww, thank you so much you guys! See ya, Bispearl!” Steven called out before taking Connie’s hand and rushing out. Lapis and Sapphire waved idly. “Bye Lapis, bye Sapphire!”

 

“Now… speaking of taking someone back to their cabin…” Pearl spoke, looking at Bismuth with a pair of particularly alluring eyes. 

 

“Oh…” Bismuth chuckled, “Whatever for?”

 

“I can think of a few things…” Pearl looked up at the Observation Gallery, giving their two eavesdroppers a glare. “Like...tea?”

 

“...Tea?”

 

“Why of course, it’s almost teatime, after all.”

 

“Yes...we can’t miss that.”

 

“And, my cabin is  _ such  _ a mess,” Pearl lied outright, which made her feel giddy to break such a moral principle. “So… we could have it in yours?”

 

Bismuth gave her a smirk. “I would love to. Lemme just… go back and get ready…”

 

“Oh of course, you have to prepare the tea and procure refreshments and—”

 

“Cabin F-34, top of the hour,” Bismuth interrupted, heading for the door. “Don’t be late.” 

 

She gave Pearl a wink, and the door shut, leaving Pearl alone in the Squash Court. She was silent for a few seconds, but then…

 

_ “Yeeeesssssss!”  _ she exclaimed, the thought of being watched not even occurring to her.  _ “Woo-hoo!  _ Oh my goodness I can’t believe it… I can’t believe it! But it’s actually happening, oh yes...”

 

As Pearl proceeded to dance to herself within the empty Squash Court, Lapis and Sapphire continued to watch, mostly out curiosity regarding how long she was going to go on for.

 

“I think Pearl  _ really _ needs intimate companionship,” Sapphire remarked. “I am happy for her.”

 

Lapis was about to say something, but instead sighed and walked back up to D-Deck, feeling weirdly… dissatisfied? Uncomfortable? Just plain grumpy? She wasn’t sure what this emotion was, but nevertheless she forced it down like all the rest.

 

So what if Pearl and Bismuth were together?

 

So what if they were happy and she wasn’t?

 

So what if, when she looked at them, she wished she had what they had?

 

So what if, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake these confusing feelings?

 

_ So what? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE SALTWATER OUT OF NOWHERE!
> 
> Notes: 
> 
> “Have you ever… Squashed?” might just be one of my favorite Pearl lines yet.
> 
> Unfortunately the information on Titanic's Barber Shop is close to nothing, so I more or less based it on photos of Olympic's Barber Shop, which I'm almost certain was from the 1920s at least rather than 1912, so the accuracy there is admittedly questionable.
> 
> You have no idea how difficult it was to work out how much Steven's message cost to send in pre-decimal British currency. It was HARD. (Connie's eloquent writing skills are, of course, a reference to Love Letters in main canon)
> 
> Also, the man at the Enquiry Office before Steven & Connie was Frank Carlson, the main character of Titanic: Adventure Out of Time (which I actually beat since last chapter, and it's really damn good!) Of course, Carlson was a real person who instead *missed* the ship, so don't take it too seriously.
> 
> Oh, and this might just be the longest chapter of this fic yet lol
> 
> (Yes, the title is a Wallace and Gromit reference :P)


	23. Lapis Alone

_ The English Channel _

_ March 31, 1899 _

_ On Board The SS Fredrica _

 

Lapis’ hand was shaking. Actually, both her hands were shaking. Scratch that, her entire body felt like it was shaking. The immensity of what had just happened to her was just now setting in. 

 

She was only overseas for a brief vacation— a week or so in England, then an excursion out to the Channel Islands and then back to England for the return trip home (on board the RMS Majestic, out of Liverpool) —but then, she made the fatal decision to take the SS Stella to Guernsey on Thursday rather than Friday, hoping to beat the Easter weekend crowd.

 

The weather was nothing to write home about, other than a few fogbanks here and there. For the first two times, Lapis noticed that the ferry slowed down until the fog was passed, but as they approached the Islands, another fogbank rolled in, and yet the Stella did not slow down.

 

It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon when the Stella came in view of the Casquets, the lighthouse blaring its fog signal, warning them of the rocks up ahead. But alas, they were too close. The ferry ran aground along…  _ something _ , and quickly began taking on water.

 

The ship sank in less than eight minutes. Being a small ship, while she had enough lifejackets for everyone, lifeboats were at a premium, and before Lapis knew it, she was flailing in the cold water, screaming for help. Luckily, she was one of those rescued the next morning, but the interim, the  _ waiting,  _ was probably the worst part of it all.

 

Still, the LSWR (the London & South Western Railway, which had operated the ferry) was quite accommodating in the face of the tragedy, giving her and anyone else who desired it free fare back to Southampton. But as she stepped off the Fredrica, she wanted to get as far away from the water as possible. No more ferries, no more boats, no more ships… She returned to the South Western Hotel— unfortunately overlooking the docks but what else could she do —and booked a room. She told them that she wanted it “indefinitely” and threw a bunch of cash in their faces to prove it.

 

And from there, she waited. She sat in her room, taking her meals inside and doing nothing else but stare out the window, watching ships come and go. From there she saw not only the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901  _ and _ the end of King Edward VII’s reign in 1910, but also the creation of bigger and bigger ships as time went on. The Majestic, The Big Four, the Lusitania and Mauretania, the Olympic, and finally, the Titanic. 

 

In early April, she took a leap of faith and booked passage on the lattermost ship. She just hoped she wouldn’t regret it.

 

\---

 

_ Thirteen Years Later... _

 

“And...checkmate!” Steven exclaimed as he sat across from Lapis in the Reading and Writing Room, garnering a handful of shushes from the other ladies relaxing nearby.

 

The room was predominantly white, with rose-colored curtains and rugs complimenting the space. It was designed to be the women’s equivalent to the men’s Smoking Room, but they’d found that the room was hardly used for the after-dinner discussions it was created for; This did not perturb Steven and Lapis, who had just had lunch down in the Dining Saloon (during which Pearl was conspicuously absent) and were now enjoying a game of chess at one of the tables.

 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s good…” Lapis said, looking out the window, distracted.

 

“Lapis, are you okay?”

 

“It’s...fine, I’m fine.”

 

Steven knew those words arguably better than anyone, and if there was anything he knew about them, it was that they were almost always a flat-out lie.

 

“You can tell me anything, you know that, right?”

 

“It’s just…” Lapis tried to say, before finding herself at a loss for words. “Have you ever wanted to tell someone something, but you don’t know what it is, and you don’t wanna think about it because it makes you feel bad but you still want to say it?”

 

Steven thought for a moment before replying with, “No.”

 

Lapis’ heart sank. But to her surprise, Steven quickly revised his answer, blushing somewhat in the process.

 

“Well, actually… Yes? I don’t know? It’s honestly a little confusing.”

 

“Heh,” Lapis snorted. “That makes two of us.”

 

“Okay, how ‘bout I tell you about  _ my  _ mystery girl, and you tell me about yours?”

 

“Well, uh, I mean, uh, who ever said it was a girl?” Lapis stammered, trying to keep her voice down.

 

Steven, sensing Lapis’ distress, relented. “Alright, you don’t have to tell me.  _ But I’ll still tell you anyway.” _

 

A smile began to form on Lapis’ face as Steven described his ‘mystery girl,’ although Lapis could easily guess who she was. About how much she loved books, how adventurous she was, her cool friend ‘Amethyst,’ and so on.

 

“And then we went to the Barber Shop where we both got haircuts and hers is  _ super cute _ , oh my  _ gooooosh.”  _

 

Lapis chuckled. “Sounds like you two really get along.”

 

“Yeah… But now I think I’m feeling… kinda weird about her? And it’s a  _ good _ feeling, but also I don’t want to tell her about it, ‘cause then she’ll think  _ I’m  _ weird and won’t wanna be friends anymore. Like… I look at her and it’s as if I’m both lighter than air and heavier than this ship, heh.”

 

Lapis’ eyebrows raised, intrigued. “I think… I think I know how you feel.”

 

“You do?”

 

“Well… Mine’s a bit different cause I, uh, barely know her but… I have the same feeling? I look at her and I feel an attraction but also a disappointment because...“

 

“Because?”

 

Lapis leaned in close, lowering her voice even more.  _ “Because she’s with someone else.” _

 

“Oh,” Steven replied, unsure of how to respond. “I’m sorry.”

 

“No, don’t be, I… I shouldn’t even be feeling this. It’s irrational...”

 

Steven smiled a sympathetic smile. “Don’t be afraid to be irrational. I’m irrational 90% of the day, and Pearl says it causes her to age only  _ slightly  _ faster than normal.”

 

Lapis laughed, mostly because of Steven’s preciousness but also because of the image of Pearl saying that, which brought a blush to her face. Steven didn’t notice, so she just let the conversation turn to the subject of their next game; this time Steven requested the white pieces instead of the black ones. Lapis let him flip the board around, only half paying attention.

 

As he reset the pieces, Steven looked down at his glass of water, noticing a slight list to port.

 

“Excuse me, Mr. Steward?” he asked, “Why is the ship tilting to the side?”

 

The steward inspected the glass, before shrugging and replying, “Oh, that’s perfectly normal, sir. I would venture that they’ve simply moved the coal from one bunker to another.”

 

“Why would they do that?”

 

“I’m no engineer, sir,” the steward chuckled. “Maybe it got restless and needed a change of scenery.”

 

The steward walked off, only for Steven to get the joke about a second too late.

 

“Hey!” Steven called out, earning another shushing from the other women in the room.

 

Lapis couldn’t help but snicker.

 

\---

 

After dinner, Steven was sent off to bed, whilst Lapis, Sapphire and Pearl gathered with the other passengers in the Reception Room for an informal after-dinner party of sorts. The band was still playing light waltzes and drinks were still being served, along with leftover food from the dining room. Lapis sat down with Sapphire while Pearl chatted with that Margaret Brown woman. As the steward poured them their drinks, Lapis sighed.

 

“Tell me what’s on your mind,” Sapphire inquired, sipping her champagne.

 

“Have you ever...been attracted to someone who was with someone else?” Lapis whispered, embarrassed to even ask such a question.

 

Sapphire put down her glass and pondered the question, wanting to give Lapis as earnest an answer as possible, but still naturally secretive of her relationship with Ruby.

 

“I know how you feel.”

 

Lapis looked up at her, surprised she’d been taken seriously. “You...you do?”

 

“It’s not the same situation,” Sapphire continued, “But I know what it’s like to want so much to express your feelings for someone, but for some…  _ unfair _ reason, you cannot.”

 

“The worst part is that I don’t even  _ know _ Pearl that well…” Lapis’ eyes widened in terror immediately after finishing that sentence, fearing that Sapphire would go gossiping to every socialite on the ship. Instead, she smiled.

 

“Then perhaps you should.”

 

“W-what?”

 

“You might not be able to be together, but you can at least be friends,” Sapphire said, getting up. She waved over to Pearl, who was heading their way from the other side of the room.

 

“Oh  _ hello,  _ Sapphire,” Pearl greeted, “You simply  _ must  _ go have a talk with that Margaret Brown character. She is a  _ delight!” _

 

“I think I will,” Sapphire nodded. “Best of luck, Lapis.”

 

“Wait—!” Lapis tried to say before Pearl took Sapphire’s place across from her.

 

“Lovely weather we’ve been having, isn’t it?” Pearl asked.

 

Lapis nodded. “Uh, yeah, I guess…” Aside from the occasional fog, the voyage had been blessed with clear weather and moderate temperatures.

 

“How are you enjoying the voyage, if you don’t mind me asking?”

 

“Oh! Uh… I’ve been having fun, I think. Steven’s been a good friend.”

 

“He has a knack for that,” Pearl chuckled. “He’s been taking the loss of Rose so well.”

 

“Rose?”

 

“Steven’s mother. And dare I say...a good friend,” Pearl mused.

 

Lapis bit the bullet and made a move. “How are you holding up, then?”

 

At first Lapis was terrified that Pearl would be offended and leave on the spot, but instead she smiled. “A lot better now, actually.”

  
“Oh,” Lapis said, “That’s good.”

 

Lapis’ response didn’t seem to register to Pearl’s ears, as she was distractedly looking off into the distance.

 

“Now I feel like… like I’ve finally filled a void I didn’t realize was there. It’s… amazing and wonderful and  _ freeing.  _ And I feel so lucky to have found her, you know? Well, I guess you don’t...”

 

Lapis didn’t have to ask about who she was talking about. But instead of jealousy, instead she felt surprisingly  _ happy  _ for Pearl. She and Bismuth had a good thing going on, and it would be wrong of her to spoil their happiness.

 

“You’re right,” Lapis shrugged. A smile appeared on her face. “But good for you! It’s not everyday someone finds a person like that. I sure wish I could these days...”

 

“You’ll find someone,” Pearl encouraged her, “They don’t call America the land of opportunity for nothing, you know.”

 

Lapis chuckled. “You think so?”

 

Pearl raised her glass. “I know so. And if I may say so, you are a remarkably pretty lady.”

 

“Why thank you,” Lapis blushed, raising her glass as well. “To the search for true love.”

 

“To the search for true love,” Pearl said as she and Lapis kinked their glasses together.

 

Lapis and Pearl talked for a good hour after that, about the latter’s nostalgia for Victorian England (she hadn’t cared much for the Edwardian Era), the former’s early years back in rural Virginia, how cute Steven and Connie were together… And in the end, Lapis could say she had fun.

 

Because hey, she realized, if you aren’t having fun, what’s the point?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lapis' backstory, as said before, is based on a real incident, the sinking of the SS Stella in 1899. 
> 
> Also, "I’m irrational 90% of the day, and Pearl says it causes her to age only slightly faster than normal" is probably one of my favorite lines I've written so far XD
> 
> The slight list to port was indeed real, a result of the coal being moved to port in order to get to the coal fire on the other side. In fact, science teacher Lawrence Beesley, from second class, asked the Steward about it that day and got more or less the same answer as here.
> 
> And I hope you all liked my nod to Saltwater, with these two chapters being a sort-of mini arc for Lapis. I'm sure nothing else will happen to her by the time they get to New York!
> 
> Speaking of Lapis ships, tune into my good friend E350tb's profile sometime after this chapter goes up for some more Unauthorized Titanic, this time with some good ol' fashioned Lapvonnie :D


	24. Suspiciously in Love

_ On Board The RMS Baltic _

_ June 29, 1904 _

 

Sapphire felt the breeze blow through her hair as she was led down the Boat Deck, on the maiden voyage of White Star Line’s latest liner, the third in what was supposed to be “The Big Four.” She and some other First Class passengers were being given a special tour of the ship (now on the second day of her trek across the Atlantic), although most crew areas were off limits to passengers anyway. Leading the tour was Captain Edward J. Smith, only 53 years old and arguably the most popular captain on the seas.

 

“Right now there’s only the Baltic, Celtic and Cedric,” he informed the tour-goers, “But the Adriatic is due in only a few years, I believe.”

 

“I can’t wait to sail on it,” Sapphire commented as they reached the railing overlooking the forecastle deck.

 

“I can’t wait to command it,” Smith remarked, a rare smile appearing on his face, “Shipbuilding is progressing so rapidly these days. Who knows? Maybe in a few years I’ll be commanding a  _ flying _ steamship.”

 

The tour group let out a polite laugh before he pointed out the bridge, which was separate from the main superstructure on the Baltic, jutting out above the Forward Well Deck. He began spouting off random facts— the ship’s top speed, gross tonnage and so on —while Sapphire became...distracted by someone on deck below. The person was short (almost as short as her), covered in soot (they were probably one of the boiler room workers), wore a red bandana across her forehead. She turned around and look up, and the two shared a moment of mutual staring, before they both blushed and returned to their respective worlds. Captain Smith had just been asked something about trouble on the seas, but Sapphire was hardly listening.

 

“Oh, I haven’t encountered much of anything that interesting,” the Captain shrugged. “I’ve been in your average storm and fog of course, but no shipwrecks here. What can I say? My story’s not that interesting.”

 

As the tour continued, Sapphire couldn’t keep her mind off the young stoker out on deck. She stuck in her mind like a tumor, a feeling she’d never felt about anyone before. 

 

If only she knew her name.

 

\---

 

_ Eight Years Later… _

 

Sapphire sat in the Reception Room around midday, taking her after-lunch coffee. The room was sparsely populated, save for a few other passengers— some she recognized, like Elizabeth Lines, others she didn’t —and she was just taking a seat when she noticed Captain Smith and J. Bruce Ismay, the President of the White Star Line, sitting nearby, in the middle of a conversation.

 

“Just imagine John!” Ismay exclaimed. “We’ll beat the Olympic and and get in to New York on Tuesday. A whole day early. We can even make the morning papers if we play our cards right.”

 

Captain Smith put down his cup of tea. “I would hardly consider the difference between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to amount to ‘a whole day,’ Mr. Ismay.”

 

“Fair point, Captain, fair point,” Ismay shrugged. “But still, everything’s been going so well so far this trip and, admittedly, I’m a tad excited.”

 

“Naturally. Why, I remember you on the  _ Olympic’s _ maiden voyage...”

 

“I only sent  _ one  _ cable to Liverpool, I swear.”

 

“Haddock tells me you were even worse during the sea trials,” Smith said, a wry smile on his face.

 

“Haddock always had a knack for  _ exaggeration,” _ Ismay remarked, shaking his head, “Come on, Captain, we’ll get somebody and go down to the squash courts.”

 

Sapphire didn’t think much of the conversation, and almost completely forgot it when a steward came by with a message for her; served on a silver platter, of course.

 

_ “Meet me an hour after dinner tonight, Poop Deck – Y. Bur” _

 

She held back a chuckle. Her love was such a goof.

 

\---

 

Ruby was lost.

 

Not lost in the physical sense, though, but rather lost in thought; The predominant one being Sapphire, of course. She loved Sapphire! And after slipping that steward several pence to get a message delivered to Sapphire (her name cleverly disguised, if she did say so herself), she was practically counting the seconds until she could see her again. She was snapped out of her reverie when she realized that she’d been leaning against her wheelbarrow, hearts in her eyes.

 

“Ruby!” Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett hollered across Boiler Room 6. “Quit slacking off or I’ll have you committed to the Brig!”

 

“Mr. Barrett, I’m pretty sure we don’t have a Brig,” Jasper interjected as she shoveled another pile of coal into the boiler.

 

“Well I’ll  _ make  _ a Brig! And until then, you can go help Ruby dig out the fire in Bunker #6!”

 

“Sir, yes, sir!” Jasper nodded, throwing her shovel to the ground as she hid her scowl from Ruby, grabbing the young coal trimmer by the arm and dragging her to the coal bunker.

 

After relieving the trimmers on duty, Jasper grabbed a wheelbarrow and shoved towards Ruby.

 

“Here, get to work moving the coal to portside.”

 

“And portside is…?”

 

“The  _ other side of the ship,”  _ Jasper barked, restraining herself.

 

“Oh yes, yes of course,” Ruby quickly nodded, rushing past the stokers and taking the wheelbarrow of coal over to the other coal bunker. As she made her way back over to starboard, she couldn’t help but feel like Jasper was upset with her.

 

“Hey, shortsquat,” Jasper said as she shoveled another batch of smoking coals into Ruby’s care, “What the  _ Hell _ were you thinking back there?”

 

“W-what?”

 

“Nothing!” Ruby lied. “I was just...distracted.”

 

“Oh, you were  _ distracted,  _ but not by anything specific, I see…”

 

Jasper couldn’t stand absent-minded people. She’d dealt with more than enough of them in her time, and there was no room for fools in the world, at least as far as she was concerned.

 

Still, Ruby didn’t match the typical idiot mold she had come to know over the years, and seemed to have  _ something  _ on her mind. And as much as she hated nosy-nellies, she found herself determined to find out what.

 

\---

 

_ On Board The RMS Baltic _

_ June 30, 1904 _

 

Sapphire never considered herself one to venture out of First Class, but this morning she felt a strange… compulsion? Instinct? Whatever it was, it lured her down into what she figured was one of the crew corridors. It was a breath of fresh air to be out of the stuffy, overly-Edwardian atmosphere most of the First Class put on— down here, it was as though she could actually  _ smell _ the fire from the boilers.

 

Stewards and other crewmen bustled through the corridors, pushing by carts of supplies throughout the ship. Sapphire was surprised that she hadn’t been stopped by a crew member yet, but she remembered her high station and figured that no one would want to say “no” to a First Class passenger. Well, except for one person, that is.

 

“Ma’am?” Sapphire heard someone say behind her. She turned around to see the trimmer that she had seen on deck the other day, attempting to appear intimidating and utterly failing at it. “I… I’m afraid you’re not allowed down here.”

 

Sapphire smirked slightly, deciding that she’d have a little fun with this woman.

 

“Oh?” Sapphire asked, faux-confused. “I must have...gotten lost… This ship is so big, after all, and I am so…” Sapphire held the back of her hand to her forehead, as if she was about to faint from the sheer act of talking (she may or may not have been imitating some of her more insufferable contemporaries).

 

Ruby sighed, thinking she was talking to yet another ditzy socialite who thought the rules didn’t apply to them. She may have been a woman of very little backbone, but if she knew anything, it was that rules were rules.

 

“Ma’am, I’m serious. I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”

 

“Leave? Could you… show me the way? I’m so  _ lost…”  _ (This was a lie, of course, as Sapphire knew the precisely how to get back to First Class)

 

Before Ruby could react to Sapphire’s flirting (which Sapphire mentally denied was actually flirting), the ship suddenly listed over to port for a few seconds. This was normal, considering the harsh waves of the North Atlantic, but in this case it sent a steward’s cart of cutlery rolling down the corridor, out of control and towards the two women.

 

Sapphire, snapping out of her persona, dove at Ruby, pushing her out of the way of the runaway cart. The pair fell to the floor, Sapphire holding Ruby close— probably closer than she needed to —as the cart smashed into the wall behind them.

 

“Hi,” Sapphire blushed, breaking the ice.

 

“I, uh, um, uh…” Ruby stammered as her and the passenger’s faces got incredibly close for comfort. “Thank you… But I still gotta ask you to leave.”

 

Sapphire let out a laugh, standing back up. The steward who had been pushing the cart came running up to her, profusely apologizing.

 

“Oh I am so very sorry ma’am,” the steward went on. “I assure you this will never happen again.”

 

“I appreciate that, although it’s not me you should be apologizing to.”

 

The steward seemed confused. “Who, then?”

 

Sapphire pointed at Ruby, who was also getting up off the floor, looking fairly disheveled from the encounter. “Her.”

 

“Her? Madame, she’s just a  _ coal trimmer.  _ Probably tried to steal something off you, she did. Will that be all, ma’am?”

 

Sapphire sighed, restraining her anger towards the steward. She turned back to Ruby.

 

“I actually do know the way back, by the way. I was just messing with you,” she giggled.

 

Ruby felt herself chuckle at that, her cheeks heating up as she looked at the young passenger further. She wore a light blue dress, her lovely hair coming down in front of her eyes, with a smile that could sink a thousand ships.

 

“Well, uh, may I take you back anyway?” Ruby asked, forgetting that she had a shift to get to, “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt down here…”

 

“Why, that would be just  _ lovely,”  _ Sapphire nodded, gesturing for her to lead the way.

 

The pair smiled a mutually goofy grin, giddily heading down the corridor, arm in arm. Deep down, neither of them wanted it to end.

 

\---

 

_ Back On Titanic... _

 

“And... _ done!”  _ Ruby gasped as she unloaded the last of the coal into the port side.

 

“Somebody get the bloody water!” Jasper coughed as the smoldering embers at the root of the coal fire were exposed to the air. A couple trimmers rushed over with buckets of water, dousing the coal and filling the bunker with even more soot-filled steam than usual. 

 

_ “Ugh,”  _ Jasper muttered, grabbing Ruby by the shoulder, “I hope it’s quittin’ time…”

 

As if the Lord had heard Jasper’s pleas (for she had made many in the past hour, most of them filled with cursing), the whistle sounded for the stokers and trimmers to switch shifts, Ruby eagerly squirming out of Jasper’s grasp and making a break for the Fireman’s Passage.

 

“What’s she in such a big rush for?” Jasper asked herself, hesitantly following after the short coal trimmer.

 

On E-Deck, just a few flights up the spiral staircase, laid Ruby’s sleeping quarters. Okay, it was actually her and 23 men sharing a room, but at least she got top bunk. Outside were the showers and washrooms, of which there was exactly one for the 72 trimmers crammed into the head. It was a good thing most of her fellows immediately got to playing cards and the like, freeing up the shower for Ruby. Not just because Ruby had a big night tonight, but also because she liked to sing.

 

_ “I am dreaming dear of you, day by day…  _

_ Dreaming when the skies are blue, when they're gray-ay-ay…” _

 

Jasper didn’t like singing. As a matter of fact, she hated it. As she nonchalantly washed her hands in the nearby sinks (nobody questioning why she wasn’t using the stokers’ washroom just one deck up), she had to restrain herself, so as not to raise Ruby’s suspicions. 

 

_ “Let me call you ‘Sweetheart,’ I'm in love with you... _

_ Let me hear you whisper that you love me too…” _

 

A sweetheart? Is that what this was about? She’d never pegged Ruby as the type to have a man waiting back home. If anything, all the sneaking away felt like she was having an affair, but Ruby seemed too innocent to be unfaithful…

 

Jasper’s musings were cut short by the shower’s water ceasing, Ruby emerging shortly afterwards, dried up and back in uniform. Actually,  _ this  _ uniform wasn’t the normal soot-stained shirt and worn pants, but rather an  _ actual _ buttoned-up shirt with  _ actually _ clean pants.

 

“Hot date tonight?” Jasper asked, casually.

 

“Buh, uh, no,” Ruby stammered, before finding some unexpected courage. “That’s none of your beeswax, uh,  _ buster!” _

 

Jasper squinted at Ruby, standing to her full height.

 

_ “What?”  _ she growled, clenching her fists.

 

“I mean, uh, well, uh… Look at the time! See ya, Jaspso!”

 

Ruby bolted out the door, leaving Jasper angry and confused. She breathed heavily, her nails digging into her palms. She  _ hated  _ people who kept secrets. And talked back. And ran away from their problems. And got  _ distracted _ . She’d felt that way ever since the Boers... 

 

Jasper shook her head, shoeing those memories away. She was going to find out what Ruby was up to, one way or another.

 

\---

 

_ On Board The RMS Baltic _

_ July 1, 1904 _

 

Sapphire saw Ruby out on deck again. This time, it looked like she was on a smoke break, down between the superstructure and the bridge. That area was directly connected to one of the lower passenger promenades, however, striking it as odd that the trimmer would be there of all places. It was like she was asking for trouble…  _ Or hoping to see someone. _

 

Sapphire quickly strode down to C-Deck, emerging onto the sparsely populated deck space shortly thereafter. She hesitated before approaching Ruby, her palms growing sweaty. She immediately started looking for the way back up. What on Earth was she doing? She didn’t know this woman! What would the papers say? What would her friends say? She had to go back to her cabin immediately, she couldn’t be seen out here. Before she knew it, however, she realized she’d walked right up to Ruby rather than  _ away _ from her.

 

“Oh!” Ruby remarked in surprise. “Uh, hello ma’am.”

 

Sapphire felt herself blush.  _ Why was she blushing? _

 

“Hello,” Sapphire nodded, sweat appearing on her brow. “It is...good to see you again.”

 

Sapphire must have been going crazy, because she could have swore Ruby was blushing as well.

 

“So, uh, what brings you to this part of the ship?”

 

Sapphire exhaled heavily, trying to remember the answer to that question. Surely she had a good reason? She blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

 

“You.”

 

_ You? What the hell kind of answer is that? _

 

“M-me?”

 

“I mean, uh, goodness this is difficult…” Sapphire stammered.

 

“Hey,” Ruby said, taking Sapphire’s hand. “It’s okay.”

 

Sapphire felt relief flow over her, chuckling at her own nervousness. “Thank you. I suppose what I mean to say is, I couldn’t stop thinking about you after meeting the other day. And… I wanted to see you again.”

 

Sapphire placed her hands on the railing, right next to Ruby’s. She smiled.

 

“Oh. Oh!” Ruby exclaimed, a dopey smile appearing on her face. “I, uh, wanted to see you too.”

 

A long silence followed. Sapphire, still incredibly nervous, decided to take the initiative.

 

“If... if you’d like, we could meet again, after dinner. At my cabin. C-92.”

 

Ruby’s face almost went pure red. “I’d… I’d like that very much.”

 

\---

 

_ Back On Titanic... _

 

Ruby stood on the Poop Deck, whistling as nonchalantly as possible as the night air blew against her body. It was times like this she wished she had brought a coat.

 

“Penny for your thoughts, sailor?” Ruby heard a familiar voice ask. She turned around and was met with the everloving gaze of Sapphire, wrapped in a beautiful fur coat. Ruby blushed.

 

“Now don’t go saying you’re thinking of me…” Sapphire said with a coy smile. “Because as you know, we haven’t met.”

 

“Oh, oh!” Ruby stammered, catching on to Sapphire’s little game. “Well, uh, I’m afraid you’re not allowed in this section, ma’am.”

 

“Am I? Oh dear, how ever shall I get back to my cabin?”

 

A wild grin stretched across Ruby’s face. This part never got old. “Well if you want, I could, uh, take you back.”

 

“You’d do that for li’l ol’ me?”

 

_ “Especially  _ for li’l ol’ you,” Ruby smirked, pecking Sapphire on the cheek.

 

“Ruby!” Sapphire whispered between giggles. “Someone could see us!”

 

“Don’t worry, Sapph,” Ruby whispered back. “No one’s out this late.”

 

“You rebel,” Sapphire laughed as Ruby kissed her on the neck.

 

Unfortunately for Ruby, there  _ was  _ someone out that late that night, and her name was Jasper, watching from the Docking Bridge. Jasper’s eyes widened as she realized what she was seeing.

 

“Well I’ll be damned…” Jasper muttered as she watched the pair return to their roles and begin walking off the Poop Deck.

 

Ruby, the stuttering, absent-minded fool who always chewed too loudly in the mess hall, snored too loudly in the bunk room, and always seemed to be one step behind everyone else... was seeing a woman from  _ First Class?! _

 

It all made sense now; the dopey grin, the shifty looks, the disappearances every other night… And not this voyage, either. She could recall Ruby following the same exact routine on the RMS Republic. This must have been going on for a long time.

 

Surprisingly, Jasper began to  _ laugh.  _ It started as a low chuckle, before transitioning into a cackle, then finally settling into a great big belly laugh. If not for the wind, someone would have definitely heard her and thought she was crazy, and she would not have immediately disagreed.

 

What was she even  _ doing?  _ Being suspicious of Ruby? Ridiculous! She should have known the lass wouldn’t hurt a fly; what was she even worried about? In fact, she’d have to  _ congratulate  _ her next time she saw her.

 

“Ruby and Sapphire…” Jasper mused to herself, leaning against the railing. “What a pairing...”

 

\---

 

_ On Board the RMS Baltic _

_ July 1, 1904 _

 

Ruby woke up in a bed that wasn’t hers. It was more comfortable than any other bed she’d known, surrounded by all manner of silk sheets and feathered pillows. The bright lights of morning shone through the porthole. She could hear water running in the next room over, and could see a familiar blue dress draped over a nearby chair. 

 

_ Oh. _

 

_ That happened. _

 

A flood of memories surged through Ruby’s mind; of Ruby going to Sapphire’s cabin after dinner, of Sapphire bringing back a bottle of champagne, the two sharing a drink or two… and then a kiss, followed by  _ much  _ more.

 

The water in the other room stopped, and out came Sapphire, still dressed in her nightgown. Ruby felt her cheeks heat up, as did Sapphire.

 

“Oh,” Sapphire giggled, “Good morning.”

 

“Uh...hi…” Ruby stammered as she pulled back on the blankets, covering herself awkwardly.

 

“So…” Sapphire said as she sat next to Ruby, “How are you feeling? About last night, I mean.”

 

“I feel surprised, for one thing,” Ruby chuckled, “But also… Happy? Like…”

 

“Like...you want to do it again?”

 

Ruby blushed even harder than before. “Read my mind, heh.”

 

“Well I’m glad you had a good time,” Sapphire smiled, leaning in to Ruby’s ear, lowering her voice to a whisper, “Because so did I.”

 

The two women exchanged a look, before quickly erupting into giggles.

 

“Say,” Ruby began, “When do we reach New York?”

 

“Not until the 9th, I think.”

 

“Well then,” the young trimmer said as she picked her shirt up off the floor, “Then I believe we have plenty of time to  _ get to know  _ each other more.”

 

“Same time tomorrow night?”

 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Ruby smiled. Sapphire smiled in return.

 

She had a feeling this would be the beginning of a wonderful relationship.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the no update on Saturday. I got busy and didn't finish the chapter in time, but on the plus side, since I bumped the release day to Monday, we can now have a chapter go up on April 15th! (Laughs evilly)
> 
> The scene with Sapphire overhearing Ismay and Smith is based on the testimony of Elizabeth Lines during the Limitation of Liability Hearings (thanks to titanicinquiry.org for the transcripts), and you'll note that I worked to humanize Bruce Ismay a bit; he wasn't some nefarious businessman interfering with command. He was just excited to show off his brand new ship in New York.
> 
> Special thanks to Lucas Gustaffson for his 3D rendition of the RMS Baltic, which was instrumental in getting a sense of its layout: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/4093182b-635e-4bff-b276-b90dca0f52f5/RMS-Baltic-II
> 
> Also thanks to Amazing Historian Mark Chirnside, for his informative articles on the Big Four: http://www.markchirnside.co.uk/Baltic_CabinClass_1928.htm
> 
> The song Ruby sings is "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," originally chosen because it was a popular song in 1910. I then found out that it was sung by Princess Bubblegum in an episode of Adventure Time, which works out fantastically :D
> 
> ALSO WE HAVE A TVTROPES PAGE NOW THANKS TO MY WONDERFUL FRIEND AND FAN E350: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/EverythingInTheWorldWasStandingStill


	25. Connie On The Bridge

Amethyst still hadn’t returned to the Maheswaran cabin by the time Connie went to bed that night. Connie sighed and laid back in her bunk, trying and failing to go to sleep. An hour or two must have went by as she stared up at the top berth, her mind occupied with dozens of mismatched thoughts. She had just about cleared her mind, finally, when she heard the cabin door crack open, shining in the blaring light from the hallway.

 

“A-Amethyst?” Connie stammered, shielding her eyes from the brightness.

 

“No, uh, it’s me,” she heard Steven say as her eyes adjusted to the light.

 

“Steven?” Connie asked, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Well, Pearl’s out with Bismuth again tonight, and I wanted to see you again, and I remembered how much fun we had sneaking around and—”

 

“Steven,” Connie interrupted, a smile on her face, “I would  _ love  _ to.”

 

\---

 

“So, Mr. Universe, where are we off to tonight?” Connie whispered as the two kids snuck down the corridors of First Class.

 

“Please,  _ Mr _ . Universe is my father,” Steven joked. “But what I wanted to show you was… this.”

 

Connie stepped out into the A-Deck landing of the Forward Grand Staircase, taking in all of its splendor. She’d already seen the Aft Grand Staircase, but this was the real deal. The decedent wood carvings, complete with a cherub at the bottom of the bannister, the magnificent crystal chandeliers, not to mention the ornate clock panel, “Honor and Glory Crowning Time,” which stood at the landing between decks. Craning her neck back down, Connie saw Steven hold his hand out to her from one of the steps.

 

_ “Enchanté, Mademoiselle,”  _ he said with an earnest smile.

 

Connie giggled a little, taking his hand. And, Steven being Steven, immediately dropped the pretense of being suave and giddily ran up the steps with her.

 

“Hey!” a steward called out to them as they reached the top level. “Shouldn’t you kids be in bed?”

 

“Uh…” Steven froze, unable to think.

 

Connie spotted an open door nearby, letting go of Steven’s hand and grabbing his arm. She blew a raspberry at the steward, who began chasing after them. Slamming the door behind them, the two kids found themselves in an unfamiliar corridor.

 

“Where’d you learn to do that?”

 

“Amethyst rubs off on you after a few nights,” Connie said, checking down the hallway immediately in front of them. “Dead end. C’mon, this way!”

 

Connie tugged Steven like a rope, pulling him around a corner and through a doorway marked “CREW ONLY.” Seeing a nearby door begin to crack open, Connie saw another door to their left and made a break for that. Above it was a small sign, which neither of them noticed.

 

_ “MARCONI ROOM,”  _ the sign read.

 

\---

 

“You know, the manual says you’re just supposed to use the emergency set,” Harold Bride said as his senior, Jack Phillips, hunched over two square metal boxes, in them about thirty metal plates suspended in oil. 

 

“With the emergency set we won’t be able to send those Cape Race messages until Monday, and I am  _ not  _ doing that. We’re smart; we can fix a simple Marconi system.”

 

“Yeah, but if you break it that’ll be three months wages  _ at least.” _

 

“Well, I don’t see  _ you  _ helping.”

 

Bride chuckled, before squatting down next to him. “I thought you’d never ask.”

 

Out in the Marconi Room, Steven and Connie slowly shut the door behind them, breathing a sigh of relief.

 

“Phew,” Steven shook his head, “That was a close one.”

 

“Yeah…” Connie said, taking a look around. “Whoa, are we in the telegraph room?”

 

“Wait, I don’t think we’re supposed to be here!” Steven loudly whispered as Connie stepped towards the desk at the end of the room. On the desk sat the Telegraph Key— with which the messages were actually tapped out on —alongside a basket of unsent messages, among other things. In the corner there were two pneumatic tubes stretching into the ceiling. A couple more messages plopped out of the tubes, adding to the ever-growing pile. 

 

“Let’s try sending something!” Connie said as she took a seat.

 

Steven shrugged and gave into the excitement, reaching into the pile of messages. “Ooh, I wonder if they’ve sent my message yet!”

 

“It’ll take you weeks to send that thing,” Connie chuckled. “Let’s find something simple.”

 

Back in the Silent Room (a bit of a misnomer, as normally the room was usually incredibly loud; just insulated heavily), Phillips shoved the last plate back into the oil vat. “Well, that lot checks out,” he sighed. “What haven’t we checked?”

 

“The manual,” Bride nodded, getting up and heading for the door. 

 

“That’s just going to tell you to wait for the engineers in New York!”

 

Bride opened the door to the Marconi Room, greeted by the sight of Steven and Connie playing with the wireless set. 

 

“Hey!” he hollered. The two kids skedaddled from the desk, rushing out the door. Bride shook his head. “Bloody kids.”

 

Steven and Connie erupted into laughter as they ran out of the Marconi Room. Hearing the sound of footsteps, they ducked around a corner and darted down the hall, heading through a nondescript door to escape their perceived persuants. 

 

Atop the door sat a sign reading “TO WHEELHOUSE.”

 

\---

 

Quartermaster Perkis stood at the wheel, holding it steady on course as First Officer Murdoch checked the ship’s compass. The compass was a tall device located in both the Wheelhouse and the Navigating Bridge, the difference between the two being that the former was enclosed within the deckhouse, while the latter was open at both ends, leading out to two bridge wings.

 

“QM, starboard ‘er off slightly,” Murdoch ordered. “Okay, that’s enough.”

 

“Aye, sir,” Perkis nodded, returning the wheel to the neutral position.

 

Titanic’s bridge returned to its normal, quiet tone, perturbed only by the rustling of the wind and the  _ Ding-Ding, Ding-Ding, Ding-Ding, Ding  _ of the bell in the Crow’s Nest, indicating the time. The tranquil silence of the seas continued for a several more minutes, until Perkis heard the faint sound of footsteps skittering behind him. He turned to his left, seeing two children pressed against the back wall, just below the row of emergency telephones and the watertight door indicator.

 

“...Hi,” Steven waved awkwardly.

 

“The bloody hell did you come from?” Perkis blurted out, catching Murdoch’s attention.

 

“What is it, QM?” Murdoch inquired, turning around and seeing the two kids through the wheelhouse windows.

 

“Nothing!” Connie called out, grabbing Steven’s arm and darting towards the door. At that moment, Sixth Officer Moody, the junior officer on watch, came waltzing in from the starboard bridge wing.

 

“Now what’s all this?” he asked before Steven and Connie made a break for the door immediately to the right, slamming it behind them before the crew members could properly react. 

 

On the other side of the door was the Captain’s Sitting Room, a small, First Class-like room with a bookcase on one side and a couch on the other. Connie, ever so clever, spotted a chair off to the side and shoved it against the doorknob.

 

“Phew,” Connie sighed, collapsing onto the floor.

 

“Some night, huh?” Steven asked as he laid down next to her.

 

“I know, right?” Connie giggled excitedly. “I’m really glad you asked me out tonight.”

 

“I’m glad too.”

 

“Anything else you wanna show me?” Connie said, eyebrow cocked. Steven blushed.

 

“Uh, no, nothing comes to mind, heh,” Steven remarked before noticing the Captain’s bookcase. “Wait!” He ran up to the bookcase, opening it up and searching it for something Connie would like. “How would you enjoy...the Captain’s  _ exclusive copy  _ of...uh... _ Robinson Crusoe?” _

 

Connie chuckled as she stood up and took the book in hand. “I would  _ love it,  _ Steven. Now, if it’s all the same to you we should probably be heading back now.”

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty late. But, uh, I just want you to know I had a really great time with you tonight.”

 

Connie put the book under her arm and took Steven’s hand in hers. “The feeling is mutual, Mr. Universe.”

 

“Hey,” Steven winked, “Mr. Universe is  _ my father.” _

 

\---

 

Right after Steven and Connie ran out of the wheelhouse, Moody went to follow them, but for the life of him, he just couldn’t breach it. Perkis let out a chuckle.

 

“And what is it you find so funny,  _ Quartermaster?”  _ Moody sighed after failing to budge the door.

 

“I dunno, sir, the two kids seemed to be having fun; I say let ‘em. Plus they were a tad cute together, if I do say so.”

 

“They were disrupting ship operations!” Moody argued, being interrupted by Murdoch laughing as well.

 

“Oh come off it, Moody,” Murdoch smiled, “It’ll be a story to tell Lightoller an’ Wilde tomorrow in the mess. A good one, too.”

 

As Moody shook his head and walked back out to the bridge wing, Murdoch turned back to the sea ahead of him. His eyes glanced up to the clock.

 

It was 11:40pm, April 13th, 1912.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Titanicology for their tables outlining officer/quartermaster shift schedules: http://www.titanicology.com/WatchTablesFile.htm
> 
> Information about the fixing of the Marconi set comes courtesy of historian Parks Stephenson on the Titanic Channel: https://www.xumo.tv/video/XM0LIU1I7J1AAI/fixing-the-wireless?p=6526
> 
> Also, TWENTY-FOUR HOURS REMAIN.


	26. Sunday

_ On Board The RMS Titanic _

_ April 14, 1912 _

 

Steven probably got four hours of sleep that night. Five hours, tops. Which was  _ fine, _ he assured himself, he didn’t need those extra few hours anyhow. He had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, too giddy from his night out with Connie to sleep, thinking that Pearl would perhaps let him sleep in. He had forgotten that today was Sunday. Pearl never let him sleep in on Sunday.

 

“Steven, it’s time to go!” Pearl called into his cabin.

 

“Mmmm… Five more minutes…” Steven muttered, shoving the pillow over top of him.

 

Pearl marched into his room and flicked on the light, making the teenager groan.

 

“Steven, I’ve already let you miss breakfast, but you  _ are  _ going to church.”

 

“Bleh… just go without me…”

 

“Oh, Steven…” Pearl smiled, sitting on the end of the bed. She paused for a moment, considering letting him sleep a while longer.

 

Until she decided against it, and forced the boy to get up.

 

\---

 

Steven wasn’t good with faces, but could figure that nearly half of all First Class passengers were in the Dining Saloon that morning. They all faced the forward end of the room, where a modestly-sized piano sat. In front of the piano was a small lectern, where he could see Captain Smith opening up the hymnal and smiling to himself.  _ He must enjoy this part of the job,  _ Steven thought.

 

Steven and Pearl quickly found their place in line with the other passengers, with Sapphire to their right and Lapis to their left. To Sapphire’s right was Colonel Archibald Gracie, who seemed so awake and alert that Steven— still denying that he was even tired —found himself jealous. Luckily, Steven was standing right next to Lapis, so he could at least goof around with her to pass the time. But she seemed to be incredibly  _ distracted  _ by something, which he attributed to the fact that she was standing next to a cute young passenger— with long hair and pinkish eyes —making the woman blush as the service began. 

 

Steven drifted off to sleep—  _ I’ll just rest my eyes,  _ he told himself —just as they began The Lord’s Prayer. By the time he awoke, they were well into the hymns. Steven, thankful that Pearl hadn’t noticed his accidental nap (she seemed a tad annoyed at something, though), quickly fumbled through his hymnal pamphlet, and joined in with the other passengers.

 

_ “Time, like an ever rolling stream,”  _ they all sang in unison.

_ “Bears all its sons away; _

_ “They fly, forgotten, as a dream _

_ “Dies at the opening day. _

_ “Like flowery fields the nations stand _

_ “Pleased with the morning light; _

_ “The flowers beneath the mower's hand _

_ “Lie withering ere ëtis night. _

_ “Our God, our help in ages past, _

_ “Our hope for years to come, _

_ “Be Thou our guard while troubles last, _

_ “And our eternal home.” _

 

\---

 

“And what would you like, young man?” the waiter in the à La Carte Restaurant asked Steven. He and Pearl had gone there for lunch just after noon, and were joined by Lapis, Sapphire and Bismuth, the latter being a guest from Second Class.

 

Steven’s answer was a very tired “Coffee. Black.”

 

“He’ll have tea,” Pearl corrected. “Earl Grey. Hot.”

 

“With lots of sugar.”

 

“I like your style, Stevo,” Bismuth laughed as the waiter left to fetch their drinks.

 

“So Bismuth,” Sapphire began, “How does First Class up here compare to your accomodations in Second?”

 

“Well, I mean, First is  _ First  _ for a reason. There’s no competition, really, but Second’s quite good if I do say so myself. Better than Third, heh.”

 

“That’s nice,” Sapphire nodded. “Oh, have you heard? Ernest Shackleton might be planning another expedition.”

 

“Who?” Lapis asked, looking up from her empty plate.

 

“The explorer,” Bismuth answered, turning back to Sapphire. “So North Pole or South Pole this time?”

 

“Hasn’t decided yet. They say it’s probably two years away.”

 

“Oh that’s what he’s been saying ever since he got back in ‘09,” Bismuth laughed. “At this point the ice caps are gonna melt away by the time he gets back to ‘em.”

 

Lapis tried to think of a topic of conversation, but ten years in a hotel room hardly made anyone a well-read scholar of current events. Well, there was one thing she wanted to talk about…

 

“Did anyone, uh, see the passenger standing next to me? Tall, long hair?” she asked, holding back a blush.

 

“Oh, yes, I remember them!” Sapphire nodded. “Never caught their name.”

 

“Well I thought they were uh, um...” Lapis tried to say before trailing off. “Nevermind…”

 

“Anyway, how was the service in First?” Bismuth interrupted, keeping the discussion going.

 

“It was quite lovely, I thought,” Sapphire remarked.

 

“Uh, yeah, I was paying attention the entire time and I agree!” Steven announced, a little too enthusiastic.

 

“What did they do in Second?” Lapis asked.

 

“They had one in the Lounge for Catholics, then an Anglican one in the Dining Room,” Bismuth explained. “I went to both, freethinking woman that I am.” The group chuckled at that remark.

 

“They skipped it,” Pearl interrupted.

 

“What?” Bismuth asked in return.

 

“They skipped  _ For Those In Peril On The Sea!”  _ she complained. “That’s, like, a naval tradition, isn’t it? Why, back when Rose and I would go across the Atlantic, they always sang that at Sunday service! It’s bad luck, I say.”

 

Steven held back a grimace at the mention of his mother, but fortunately those thoughts were shooed away by the waiter, returning with the group’s drink orders. Steven plopped two sugar cubes into the mug, but was too impatient to steep the tea for the usual five minutes, and instead downed the steaming-hot sugar water in one gulp. No one seemed to notice.

 

“Well if you want, tonight we’re having a hymn sing down in Second. And I’ll make  _ certain  _ they include that one.”

 

“Why thank you!” Pearl blushed, “Steven and I would just love to come! Wouldn’t we, Steven? 

 

Steven, now  _ very _ awake thanks to the sugar, was now shaking uncontrollably in his seat.

 

_ “YesThankYouForTheInvitationBismuthIAmSureThatItWillBeLovely.” _

 

\---

 

_ “Eternal Father, strong to save, _

_ “Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, _

_ “Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep _

_ “Its own appointed limits keep; _

_ “Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, _

_ “For those in peril on the sea!” _

 

The Second Class hymn sing that evening was indeed lovely, with  _ The Navy Hymn  _ being one of the last songs sung that night. Afterwards, a good many passengers lingered in the Dining Saloon, as biscuits and coffee were offered by the stewards. Steven was secretly intaking the caffine, it being as late as it was and him being as tired as he was.

 

“Steven, Pearl!” Bismuth exclaimed as the hymnal was put away. “Glad you two could make it!” 

 

“It was just wonderful, Bismuth,” Pearl nodded. “And quite the turnout, too!”

 

Steven took a look around. Amongst the passengers hanging around, he could see that Lapis and Sapphire had also made it, the former chatting it up with her long-haired friend from earlier while the latter idly drank their coffee. Leaving Pearl and Bismuth behind, Steven went to see what was up.

 

“Hey Sapphire, how’d you like the hymn sing?” he asked, sensing that something was the matter.

 

“Oh, hello Steven,” the small woman nodded. “Surprised to see you out so late. It didn’t seem like you slept well last night.”

 

“What? Me? Tired? No! Why, that’s just a load of malarkey!”

 

“Sure,” Sapphire giggled. “But yes, the singing was wonderful.”

 

Steven felt an uncertainty in Sapphire’s voice, as if there was something she was holding back.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

 

“It’s...nothing.”

 

“Come on, you can tell me! People tell me everything,” he said leaning in for a whisper. “There was one Christmas where Pearl got into the eggnog and told me about the circumstances of my conception.”

 

Sapphire almost choked on her coffee, but managed to not burst into laughter right then and there. “Okay then,” she chuckled. “Let’s just say… There’s someone I wanted to see tonight, to bring here, perhaps, but I couldn’t.”

 

“Ooh, who are they?”

 

Sapphire sighed. There’d be no harm in telling Steven, right?

 

“Her name is Ruby…” Sapphire whispered, almost giddy to tell someone her secret. “She’s coal trimmer down in Boiler Room and I… We’ve been in love for some time. I guess I just can’t show it to the world because…”

 

“Because why?”

 

“What?”

 

“You shouldn’t have to hide who you love from people. That just doesn’t make any sense.”

 

Sapphire put down her coffee, contemplating. “You’re too good to be this rich, you know that?”

 

“Heh, my niceness ‘tis but a curse,” Steven chuckled. “But seriously, don’t be ashamed of the truth. ”

 

“How old are you, again?”

 

“Fourteen.”

 

“I would have guessed older,” Sapphire smiled. “You’re actually quite mature for your age.”

 

“Thanks,” Steven nodded before letting out a yawn. “Sorry, didn’t get much sleep last night.”

 

“Well then perhaps you should—” Sapphire advised just as Steven rushed over to the buffet table.

 

“Hey! Are those Tabby Tarts?” Steven excitedly asked, eyeing a plate of uniquely cat-shaped desserts.

 

“Yes, young man,” the steward replied. “One of the Baker’s favorites, I’ve been told. Don’t understand the appeal myself, but have at it if you’d like.”

 

“Wow, thanks! Our cook back home stopped making them for me out of ‘professional principle.’”

 

“I’ll have to tell the Chief Baker how much you like it, then,” the steward said, heading off to the galley.

 

Checking to see if Pearl was still watching (she wasn’t), Steven proceeded to stuff his face with the feline pastries, partially for the sugar rush but also for the nostalgia the dessert brought him; he could remember his fifth birthday, when Pearl had the chef make it for him the first time. It was a staple of the Quartz household for a while; one of the few things he and his mother actually got to share. Ever since she died last year, well, he hadn’t had much reason to ask for it. But now, as he bit into tart after tart, he felt that same sense of wonder and excitement surge through him once more.

 

He and Pearl returned to their cabin around later that night. Steven tried to sleep, but found himself in a frustrating state between alertness and tiredness. He checked the time. It wasn’t too late, only two hours to midnight. He could surely find something to do to fill in that time.

 

Maybe Connie would be free again tonight, he pondered…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Information on Titanic's Sunday services (including the second class hymn sing) courtesy of the Titanic Piano blog: https://titanicpiano.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-14-1912-sundays-music-on-board.html
> 
> Sir Ernest Shackleton, mentioned at the A La Carte Restaurant, was actually called as a witness to the Titanic Inquiry, giving testimony on the nature of icebergs, having explored ice-filled regions.
> 
> The long-haired friend of Lapis is, if you hadn't noticed, Stevonnie from E350tb's wonderful Unauthorised Tales From The Titanic series (the Lapvonnie hints ultimately being a reference to his amazing Marooned Together fic)
> 
> Speaking of Marooned Together, E3's created a Discord chat for it that I'm a mod of! Check it out: https://discord.gg/rwW8swt
> 
> Also, yes, Steven drinks tea, Earl Grey, hot :P


	27. Westward, Onward, Into Oblivion

_ On Board The RMS Titanic _

_ April 14, 1912 _

_ 10:00pm _

 

Connie couldn’t sleep. Admittedly this was probably due to the time gradually being set back as the ship travelled further west, but she was feeling a bit restless, especially after not seeing Steven all day. She couldn’t stop thinking of him— at breakfast she thought of how much he liked the food, at Sunday services (her family was Hindu, so they went more out of cultural curiosity than anything else) she thought of the dumb jokes he’d be making, and at dinner she took one look at the roast beef and the image of him savoring it pushed itself to the forefront of her mind. As she tried to sleep, she could have swore he heard his voice.

 

“Hi,” Steven whispered, popping up at the side of her bunk.

 

Connie held back a yelp, startled by Steven’s appearance. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.

 

“Well… I just wanted to spend more time with you, ‘cause I like you…”

 

“Oh,” Connie giggled, both children still in a whisper, “Why, thank you.”

 

Steven hopped up onto the bed. “So, you doing anything tonight,  _ mademoiselle?” _

 

“I do not believe so, Sir Steven.”

 

“Then how would you like a late night tour of the ship?”

 

“I would  _ love  _ that,” Connie smiled, putting on her shoes.

 

The pair quietly shuffled out the door, darting down the hallway with feverous excitement.

 

\---

 

Amethyst had slept on dozens of benches in her life, but the benches underneath Titanic’s docking bridge were probably the most comfortable. She wasn’t what they would call “homeless” since she technically had a home in her cabin— it was more a matter of the parental figures living in that cabin not being on particularly good terms with her. But it didn’t  _ really  _ matter, she told herself, ‘cause she knew how to rough it and liked it, dammit! Also, some nights she’d be able to sleep in Peri’s cabin, which was a special treat to say the least.

 

As she looked up at the stars, she realized that for the life of her, she had no idea what any of them were. Amethyst had her own special brand of constellations; the giant lizard, the three-beaded necklace and so on. She couldn’t remember most of the names she gave them, though, but she could remember where they were. Now, she couldn’t actually get anywhere with the stars like all the other fancy-pants hitchhikers, but it at least gave her a way to entertain herself.

 

She also realized that it was too bloody cold to be outside that night. What on Earth was she doing, freezing her ass off in the middle of the night? To be fair, out of the passenger areas that were still open, she didn’t feel like being in the Third Class Smoking Room that night, nor was she allowed back in the General Room after she accidentally lit that steward’s arm on fire the other day (long story). Amethyst would have hung out with that blond chick again, but she was busy with some guy from the “Philip Pines” all day so she didn’t bother.

 

Amethyst wanted nothing more than to see Peri again, but Peri had told her to save their  _ rendezvous _ for after the 14th because of some important...thing. She forgot what it was, but it sounded important, at least. Then again, she figured, it  _ was  _ the end of the day. Whatever it was, it must have been over with by now, right?

 

\---

 

“Inspection coming through!” the Chief Engineer called out through the engine room. The engineers, Peri included, darted back to their stations, unsure whether or not they needed to stand at attention. Strolling into the Engine Room was Thomas Andrews, one of Harland & Wolff’s “Guarantee Group” and, admittedly, the object of Peri’s admiration.

 

She attempted to position herself along Andrews’ path, hoping for at least a nod of recognition (or even better, a “Good evening, Junior Assistant Sixth Engineer, how are you doing in this masterpiece of engineering that I hold you in the strictest confidence of maintaining?”) but her superior had other ideas in mind.

 

“Peri, why don’t you go check on the electric generators?”

 

“I am certain the electrical engineers are more than capable—”

 

“That’s an  _ order.” _

 

Peri sighed and marched through the aft end of the Reciprocating Engine Room, through Turbine Engine Room, finally reaching the room housing the Electric Engines. Said engines were over twice the size of a person, and they proved their worth in sheer power. The generators were what powered the dazzling display of lights that made the ship shine like a jewel on the dark sea of glass that night, enough power to light up a small city, too.

 

Jutting out along the midsection of the room was Titanic’s central propeller shaft—  _ Ah,  _ Peri thought to herself,  _ Shaft Alley  _ —with the two wing propeller shafts nestled out of the way, behind the generators. Peri nodded to the electrical engineers, and took a look at each of the power readouts to ensure everything was ship-shape. To her satisfaction, everything checked out, and she was about to return to the Engine Room when she heard a familiar voice above her. She glanced up. It was  _ Amethyst,  _ hanging upside down from the catwalk.

 

“Heya, matey!” Amethyst whispered, apparently putting on a phony West Country accent.

 

“Oh no…” Peri whimpered. She looked down at her clipboard, hoping not to draw attention to herself.

 

“Yar wanna help me scurvy up some scallywags?”

 

“First of all,” Peri said in a low voice, “You aren’t using that accent or most of those words correctly.”

 

“Aww, yar is no fun up here in the briny blue!”

 

“Second, if I recall,  _ we had an agreement.” _

 

“Oh, right,” Amethyst muttered, dropping the act.

 

“Yes,  _ oh, right.” _

 

“Well, I’m sorry, I just wanted to see you again.”

 

“You couldn’t have waited an hour?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Before Peri could answer, Amethyst’s grip slipped, making her fall off the catwalk and onto the hard, metal floor. Peri shoved her behind the generator before any of the electrical engineers noticed.

 

“Oh, uh, just dropped my clipboard!” Peri smiled the fakest of smiles, before realizing that the clipboard was still in her hands. She dropped it. “Twice! Clumsy me!”

 

To Peri’s chagrin, Thomas Andrews picked that moment to waltz into the generator room. “Hey, who’s that?” Amethyst asked as Peri ducked out of the way. 

 

“You’re not allowed to ask questions anymore,” Peri snapped. She grabbed Amethyst by the collar and dragged her through the watertight bulkhead, deep into what was known as “The Tunnel.” It was a fairly spacious, empty room, save for the central propeller oscillating down the middle, intended for the installation of extra generators if needed.

 

“Hey where are we now?” Amethyst asked, wide-eyed.

 

_ “What did I just say?” _

 

“Sorry, wasn’t listening. Now c’mon! Let’s blow this joint and have some fun!”

 

Before Peridot could offer a reply, she heard Thomas Andrews and Chief Engineer Bell step through the bulkhead door, continuing the inspection.

 

“Are you sure you want to head this way, Mr. Andrews?” Bell asked. “Nothing much this far back.

 

“That’s what they said when I wanted to see the forepeak. I’m taking a gander of this ship from bow to stern, no ifs, ums, or buts about it.”

 

“Very well,” Bell shrugged. “After you.”

 

Spotting one more bulkhead door, Peridot grabbed Amethyst and shoved her into the aftmost compartment. Amethyst fell flat on her rear end.

 

“Hey! What’s the big idea?”

 

“Do you have  _ any idea  _ what you’re doing?” Peridot shouted. “Or are you just  _ dense?!” _

 

Amethyst looked up at the woman of her affection, her eyes growing watery. “Peri, I—”

 

“Shut up! Just shut up! Do you know what I’m risking even talking to you?”

 

“But Peri—”

 

“Don’t ‘but Peri’ me! Don’t even talk to me! You aren’t allowed down here anyway! Just leave!”

 

“I was just trying to—”

 

“GET. OUT.” 

 

Peri’s words echoed through the compartment as Amethyst got up and hurried out the doorway, passing by Thomas Andrews and Chief Engineer Bell, who had gone to see what the commotion was. Staring at the two gentlemen looking down at her, one of whom the subject of much admiration on her part, Peri felt her eyes well up and quickly burst into tears. After pushing the men aside, she ran off, wanting nothing more to be as far away from the Engine Room as possible.

 

“That’s what I been saying,” Bell commented. “Women and machines don’t mix.”

 

“Hey,” Andrews said, pointing his finger at the engineer, “There’ll be none of that talk here. Or I’ll have you out on your bum faster than the  _ Mauretania _ .”

 

Bell suddenly straightened up, realizing his error. “My apologies, sir, I swear it won’t happen again.”

 

“I’ll make sure of it. And while you’re at it, have the lads go easy on ‘er. It’s her first assignment, from what I’ve heard.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“And besides,” Andrews continued. “I thought she and her friend were kind of cute together.”

 

\---

 

Steven and Connie had snuck all the way forward up Scotland Road, finding a small stairwell down to G Deck. The two kids didn’t know where it went, but it was somewhere they hadn’t been, which was good enough for them. As they reached the bottom of the companionway, they passed through a doorway and suddenly found themselves in a large, dimly-lit room filled with wardrobe chests, suitcases and other baggage.

 

“Whoa,” Connie muttered. “Where are we now?”

 

“Is that…” Steven began to ask, recognizing something amongst the baggage. “It is!”

 

He ran through the rows of baggage, finding a chest adorned with star-stickers. “It’s my stuff!”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

“This must be where the first class bags are kept, I think.”

 

“Oh, cool,” Connie nodded. “So...what’s in the case?”

 

Steven chuckled. “Mostly just momentos and stuff. From back home.” The boy paused, losing himself in thought.

 

“Steven?”

 

Steven snapped back to reality, shaking his head. “Oh, sorry. Got distracted.” He looked towards the other side of the room, spotting a stairwell. 

 

“Hey, let’s check out down there!” he said, pulling Connie along.

 

\---

 

Peri ran up onto the Boat Deck as fast as she could, unable to stop crying. She plopped herself down at the solid bulwark, head buried in her arms. After a good five minutes of sobbing, she heard a voice nearby.

 

“Hey!” the voice called out. “Are you...okay?”

 

Peri lifted her head up and turned around. At the forward railing blocking off the Engineer’s Promenade, she saw a tall woman in a blue dress and overcoat, a concerned look on her face.

 

“Oh, uh, apologies ma’am,” Peri said, sniffling, “my outburst was irrational and uncalled for.”

 

“I mean,” the woman continued, “It’s okay to be irrational sometimes. I’ve been irrational this whole trip and it’s only driven me a  _ little  _ crazy.”

 

Peri snorted. “What brings a lady like you out on a cold night like this?”

 

“Eh, I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d get some fresh air. You?”

 

“It’s...stupid.”

 

“If it’s worth crying about, I don’t think it’s stupid.”

 

Peri smiled at the stranger. “Well, there’s this...passenger I really like, but she can be a handful, and I… I think I lashed out at her badly tonight.”

 

“Oh,” the woman nodded. “I mean, take my advice with, like, all the grains of salt, but if you two really like each other, I think she’ll accept an apology.”

 

“You...you think?”

 

“Yeah! I don’t see why not,” the woman extended her hand out. “Lapis Lazuli, by the way.”

 

“Peri, Junior Assistant Sixth Engineer. Which… I should probably be getting back to work,” Peri chuckled. “But it was nice meeting you, Miss Lazuli.”

 

“Same to you, too,” Lapis nodded. Peri gave a nod in return, before making a mad dash for the engineer’s stairwell. Lapis sighed and looked out over the bulwark. No moon, no wind; the sea as flat as a sheet of glass and nothing but stars as far as the eye could see.

 

It was a beautiful night.

 

\---

 

“Hey, what’s this over here?” Steven called out. He and Connie were in the baggage room one deck below. After  _ not  _ looking through several pieces of luggage (that would be  _ wrong,  _ Steven insisted), the boy spotted a door on the other end of the room.

 

“After you, good sir,” Connie nodded.

 

“No, no, no, I insist, ladies first,” Steven continued.

 

“I happen to be a firm believer in equal treatment, so I insist,  _ after you.” _

 

“Gladly!” Steven shrugged, turning the knob and slowly nudging the door open. “Oooh, cool!” Steven whispered, beckoning Connie to follow. He lead Connie through, careful to duck his head stealthily. 

 

“Look!” he smiled excitedly, still in a low whisper, “It’s the mailroom!”

 

To their right was a rack of newspapers, either for the passengers’ benefit or for transport, the kids weren’t sure. Just ahead was a staircase leading up, and beyond that were countless mailbags, all heading to America. There was also a small elevator, more for lifting up mail than people, Connie figured. There were only two or three postal workers on duty that night, and they were upstairs in the postal office, leaving the mailroom empty.

 

“Okay, I have a pretty wild idea…” Connie whispered. “Follow me.”

 

Steven giddily followed Connie over to the rows of mailbags, stars in his eyes. To his surprise, she opened one up, taking out an envelope.

 

“Connie!” Steven scolded. “Are you…  _ opening other people’s mail?” _

 

“No…” Connie suspiciously shook her head. “I was just...seeing where it came from! Oh look, this one’s from…” She squinted to see the name. “Aber-sty-whyth?”

 

“Aberystwyth,” Steven corrected her. “It’s a town in Wales; Pretty cool, actually!”

 

“Oh?” Connie asked, curious.

 

“Yeah! There’s this old college, and the remains of an ancient castle, and this railway that takes you up to the top of this hill with awesome views!”

 

“Oh, that sounds cool!” Connie smiled, reaching into the bag for another envelope. “How about… Glasgow?”

 

“Ooh, that’s in Scotland!”

 

“How is it up there? My family’s never been.”

 

“Oh, Scotland’s cool! Me and Pearl used to go watch ships get launched at Clydebank.”

 

“Whoa, any big ones?”

 

“Not as big as this, but pretty big, yeah,” Steven nodded, excited, “Last year I got to see HMS  _ Conqueror _ ! What they did is that they’d put a ton of butter and grease and stuff along the sides of the ship, then they smash some wine on the ship and gets pushed into the water and it’s awesome!”

 

“I bet,” Connie giggled. “Now let’s see if you can tell me about… Jersey? Isn’t that in America?”

 

“Oh, no, that’s  _ New  _ Jersey. There’s a Jersey down in the Channel that it got named after, I think, though it’s just an island. Never been there. Probably won’t get a chance to now…”

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing, nothing…” Steven tensed up, darting his eyes away. Connie placed a hand on his leg, which was shaking, as usual.

 

“Steven, you know you can tell me anything.” Steven sighed. Connie’s expression softened. “Is everything okay?”

 

“No, everything’s not okay!” Steven snapped, making the girl flinch. “I… I’m sorry, it’s just… My mom.”

 

“Your mom?”

 

“You know, she was always so busy… Sometimes I thought Pearl was more a mother to me than she was. I knew she loved me, but whenever I got a stubbed toe, Pearl was there. Whenever I got sick, Pearl was there. Every birthday party, she was off on some business trip up north or wherever.”

 

Connie didn’t say anything, simply letting the boy vent.

 

“And then, she gets pneumonia and dies! And she has the  _ gall  _ to put in her will that I have to move to America and live with my dad? Who I’ve never even met? Without even  _ asking  _ what I wanted? What kind of a mother does that?! What kind of a mother just  _ rips up  _ their kid’s life after not even being a part of it?!  _ It’s unfair!” _

 

Steven slammed his fist down on the floor, a dull thud echoing through the mailroom. Connie wrapped the boy in a hug, squeezing him tight.

 

“You’re right,” Connie assured him.

 

“Thanks,” Steven smiled, brushing a tear from his eye.

 

\---

 

“So, uh, you don’t think it’s weird or anything?” Ruby quietly asked as she pushed another wheelbarrow of coal up to Jasper.

 

“Look, kid, all’s fair in love and war, as far as I’m concerned,” Jasper said as she took a shovel to the coal and threw another load into the furnace. “Now, the  _ war  _ part is where it gets iffy, but...eh. To be honest, I couldn’t give two shits who you’re humping.”

 

Ruby blushed.  _ “Jasper!”  _ she retorted in a harsh whisper. 

 

Jasper just chuckled. Tonight was one of those nights.

 

\---

 

After the hymn sing, Pearl decided to pay Bismuth another visit in Second Class. They stood at the aft end of the superstructure, looking out at the stars from the Second Class Promenade.

 

“No moon out tonight,” Bismuth commented.

 

“Cold too,” Pearl nodded. “I’d forgotten how chilly the Atlantic could be in the Spring.”

 

The larger woman hummed in response, pulling her partner closer for warmth. “You know, I’m really glad I met you.”

 

“I’m glad I met you, too.”

 

Normally, she’d be worried sick, leaving Steven alone for the night, but here, on the Titanic, she felt an enormous calm flow over her. Everything was fine.

 

\---

 

Sapphire sat in bed, peacefully reading a book. The lamp next to her bed, a portable gimbal lamp, shimmering from its own gilding.

 

She checked the time. 

 

It was getting close to midnight, so she decided to call it a night. She would have preferred to have Ruby by her side tonight, but admittedly she enjoyed these quiet nights to herself. 

 

Sapphire put the light out, closing her eyes under the covers.

 

\---

 

Amethyst burst out onto the Forward Well Deck, tears streaming from her face. How could she be so  _ stupid?  _ So  _ idiotic?  _ So…  _ destructive?  _ She had a great thing going on with Peri! Everything was fine! Why couldn’t she have just done what she told? 

 

“Ugh,” she muttered, “I’m a mess.”

 

She needed to distract herself with something. Maybe some good, old-fashioned rule breaking… Heading up to the Forecastle Deck, the most forward area of the ship, she spotted a sign that read “No Passengers Beyond This Point.” Not seeing anyone, she hopped on over the barrier and made her way to Titanic’s prow. Feeling the wind in her hair, Amethyst closed her eyes, extending her arms outward. It almost felt like flying!  _ (No,  _ she told herself,  _ that’s just dumb) _

 

But then, just as she was finally enjoying herself again, she got a strange, uneasy feeling. Opening her eyes, she could see a black mound jutting out of the black sea, a stark discontinuation of the starfield before her.

 

Three bells cut through the air, as the icy object hauntingly approached the Titanic in the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, we made it to the iceberg. I'm glad you all could join me on this journey, and I hope the rest of this fic holds up to your expectations.
> 
> That being said... Due to finals season heating up soon, and the amount of research necessary for the upcoming chapters, AND because I'm a tad bit evil, this fic will be going on hiatus for the near future. I apologize for leaving you all on such a cliffhanger, but I've simply run out of chapters planned in advance, and want the next installments of Titanic AU to be just as well-written and researched as it has been so far.
> 
> Now, I won't stop writing fics during the hiatus (in fact, it'll allow me to focus on my other fics, so good news for you guys waiting for the next MLTG chapter) so stay tuned for that.
> 
> Safe travels and smooth sailing to everyone :)


End file.
